Rydince
by NiaraWolf
Summary: Inspired by the movie, Pitch Black, a girl who survived a gruesome Alien War must take matters into her own hands to fight an oncoming onslaught of Aliens against Humans. Through secret information from the Protectors, she discovers a man named Rydince who may be her only chance to prevent the creatures from killing every last human on Earth. (Rydince is Riddick but a young version
1. Chapter 1: Rydince

I wrote this story a few years back so I'm sorry if you find the names or literacy a little immature. I got this idea from Pitch Black or The Chronicles of Riddick. PLEASE send me feedback, I'd love to hear it!

Rydince

_ Our world is the only left to support life, yet our world itself is dying. Nights are getting darker and longer. More attacks from outsiders happen. Less safety is too be found. Our "Protectors' " numbers are dwindling. I'm afraid that another alien attack will come, and our forces will be too weak to hold them off. Once our defense is down, we'll be sitting ducks._

"But I don't plan for that to happen to me, damn it!" Amesh snapped, loading her gun with her specially crafted bullets.

Amesh stepped out of her trashed air ship, putting her gun in her belt. She headed to her armed MRAP (Mine Resistant Ambush Protected vehicle). She jumped in and began flipping switches and turning knobs that made the vehicle roar to life. She looked up at the sky. Evening.

"Better hurry...the outsiders come in the night." Amesh said to herself. She revved the engine and sped forward. She flew over desert terrain, towards the destroyed city that surprisingly held life. Her short layered black hair lingered with the smell of sweat and dirt. She wore a dusty black tank top, buckle covered leather boots, dark grey shorts with a heavy duty belt that held ammo and two gun holsters. Her dark eyes scanned the sky and earth, looking for any of those blasted beasts just in case.

" The Protectors are already losing the fight before its even begun. Sorry, but I'm not planning to give my life up on this planet just yet." she sneered. The absence of social company gave her the habit to talk to herself.

Amesh sped into town, dodging a few broken fire hydrants here and there. She headed towards the Protectors' guild, where many secrets are held about alien attacks and what not that she wanted to know.

Amesh parked her army car in the shadows about a mile away. She grabbed a long black cloak from her MRAP and put it on. She quickly walked towards the guild undetected. Her cloak shrouded her face in darkness. Once she arrived at the guild, she immediately noticed the heavy security. She smiled.

"Like THAT is gonna stop me." she scoffed.

Amesh headed to the side gates. She easily climbed up, but she stayed on top of the gate. She looked down. She saw lasers of security. Amesh saw a pattern she could use to get through to the main building. She jumped down and did a series up jumps, side rolls, back bends, and cartwheels through the many lasers. Once she landed in the bushes, she took a deep breath. She saw officers up and down the sidewalks. Amesh waited in the bushes for one officer to come by. Once a female one came, she grabbed her and shoved her into the bushes. Amesh quickly knocked her out with a strong punch to the face. She started taking off the officer's uniform and putting it on herself. Luckily, the woman had a shape close to hers. Amesh topped the uniform off with the officer hat. She walked out of the bushes and headed towards the building. She unlocked the door with the key she stole from the officer.

Amesh walked down the dimly lit hall. She looked at the signs over heading the doors she passed. She stopped at a door that said, 'No trespassing.' The door had a sign posted on it saying, 'All who trespass that is NOT a Protector WILL BE prosecuted.' Amesh chuckled.

"Heh, a mere sign can't scare me." Amesh snorted.

Amesh tried to open the door, but it was locked. She tried the keys she stole from the officer. None of them worked. Amesh cursed under her breath. She suddenly froze at the sound of heavy footsteps. She straightened up and pressed against the wall, facing forwards. She looked over to see a Protector turning the corner towards her. The Protector wore heavy white armor that seemed to glow. It held a heavy duty gun at its side. It stopped in front of Amesh and turned towards her. Amesh's heart skipped a beat. She did not expect to run into a Protector. Especially when she is right next to their assumingly top secret room that held all they knew about the alien outsiders and attacks. The Protector raised its hand took off its helmet. It revealed a tough looking middle aged bald man. You could see the gleam of sweat on his head. He had a long scar going down the right side of his head to the bottom of his chin. He looked at her with a curious but yet serious look.

"What is a young officer like you doing next to a room like this?" his deep voice asked. Amesh winced in surprise.

"I-I was making sure that this door was secure, just in case any intruder dare come here." Amesh said to him.

The Protector chuckled. He raised his hand and ruffled her hat, messing up her hair underneath. He gave a nice smile.

"Heh, you're looking for secrets of the aliens, huh?" he smiled. Amesh's eyes widened and she looked down, her face turning red now that she was figured out.

"Don't worry. I won't turn you in. You're just lucky it was me who passed by." he laughed, then patted her head again.

"I guess I am."Amesh chuckled shakily.

"Let me just ask you one question though." he asked seriously this time. Amesh looked up at him.

"What kind of information are you looking for, exactly?" he asked.

"Any I can take on the aliens and their attacks." Amesh said to him. He chuckled.

"There's not more that we know then you." he said.

"There must be. If your keeping this door locked without any security having its key, there must be something crucial its hiding." Amesh said eyeing him.

"You know what, I like your attitude, girly. What's your name?" he asked.

"A Protector asking for my name?" she asked shakily. "Amesh, sir. And you?"

"Heh, I'm Rohawk. One of the top Protectors." he smiled proudly. Amesh's eyes hardened.

"If you will, open this door." Amesh said sternly.

"First, tell me what are you going to do when you get the information you need." he said in a demanding voice.

"I will find a large and strong group of warriors, like myself, and fight those damn aliens." Amesh growled.

"You sure don't look like a warrior to me." Rohawk said eyeing her. Just then, Amesh whipped out her gun and put to his throat in one quick swift move.

"Are you sure you don't wanna take that back?" Amesh chuckled darkly. Rohawk grinned widely.

"I think you can help. Finally, someone stands up to the plate to face these man eating aliens." he smiled and patted her head again.

Rohawk turned towards the door and put his gloved finger to the top of the handle. It beeped and clicked. He opened the door and walked inside with Amesh following.

The room was pitch black. Rohawk proceeded to walk inside. He knew his way perfectly in the dark room. Amesh followed him easily in the room because his armor shined through the darkness. She was surprised. She never had seen such special armor that shined in the dark.

"The switch should be over here..." Rohawk said then clicked the lights on. She winced from the sudden light.

The room had a series of locked cabinets along the walls and a few tables here and there. Rohawk headed to a cabinet in the corner. He pressed his finger against the lock and it beeped. He opened the cabinet and skimmed through the files.

"Well, all you most likely want to know about aliens is in here. I'll go guard the door while you look." Rohawk said then headed to the doorway.

"I hope I can trust you, Rohawk." Amesh said a bit shakily. He nodded.

"I'm a Protector you can trust, Amesh." he promised.

Amesh nodded to him and started looking through the files. There were so many files, it was almost overwhelming. Finally she pulled one out and gasped. This one was of the previous alien and Protector war. Amesh could remember the days of running from all those aliens that were desperate to kill and devour her. Guilt suddenly shot her. She remembered the day she left her family and friends to save herself from the aliens. She could remember all their screams of pain and terror when she was gone and the aliens came to murder them. Amesh bit her lip and held back her tears cause from the sharp pinged pain of her heart. This was why she was so set on killing those aliens.

"Something wrong, girly?" Rohawk whispered from the door. Amesh shook her head.

"Just...memories from the war." Amesh said then looked back at the papers.

Amesh noticed a paper behind the one she was reading. She took it out and read it. Her eyes widened.

"Rohawk! Is this why nights are like this?" Amesh asked urgently pointing at the paper. Rohawk looked back and nodded.

"When the war started, the aliens invaded with such a large capacity and impact that it actually knocked Earth off its axis. This was their plan, too, so nights would be darker and longer as time went on. Now, as you know, nights are almost longer than the days now and they are twice as darker as they used to be." Rohawk explained. This sent chills up Amesh's spine.

"I remember, it felt like a huge earthquake when the aliens landed. It was terrifying, the earthquake destroyed almost every building on land." Amesh spoke aloud.

Amesh put those files away and grabbed another one that showed a recent date. She looked through it intensely. Her eyes narrowed.

"Finally you guys notice that some rogue aliens are already here. I had to kill one a few nights ago." Amesh sneered.

"And why didn't you bother to tell us?" Rohawk asked looking back at her.

"Let's just say I'm not a big fan of the Protectors...no offense, Rohawk."

"Eh, none taken. A lot of people don't like us because of the war. Plus our facility uses all the electricity rations and security."

"I would know. My family was one of the many that you guys evacuated. You made us leave our only home so you guys can use it as a decoy to attract aliens so you could kill them. Exactly how did you get the aliens in our house once we left?"

Rohawk looked down grimly. He hesitated before he answered.

"We took someone old or sick from every other family we evacuated, and then we, um, put them down quickly. We spread their blood around in the house to act as a dinner bell, then put the body somewhere deep, like a basement." Rohawk said shamefully."I regret every moment of those bloody nights." he admitted.

Amesh's teeth were clenched. This was also why she hated Protectors.

She didn't respond to him. She put the file back and looked at the other file's dates. She tilted her head at a file whose date hadn't even came yet. Its date was a bit more than a week in the future. Amesh let out an uneasy sigh, then took out the file. She opened it and read. Her body froze, her eyes were wide with shock. Even her mouth hung open.

"R-Rohawk..." she managed to choke out.

"Yes?" he answered sadly.

"There is going to be another alien war very soon, huh?"

"Yes."

"We don't have any chances of winning, do we..."

Rohawk didn't answer.


	2. Chapter 2: Only Hope

I may be slow with the next chapter because I really only wrote 1 1/2 chapters, so the end on this chapter is new material. Please enjoy!

_Only Hope_

Amesh set the papers down and sighed.

" If we're all going to die in a bit more than a week's time, then there is nothing more I can do." Amesh growled. Her hands went in tight fists.

"Well, there IS one rogue..." Rohawk implied.

"A rogue?" Amesh asked, looking back at Rohawk.

"His name is Rydince. This guy is...special. Some even say he's not human. His eyes are only able to see in the darkness, not in the light, making it so he must wear darkened goggles. He has a history of betrayal and murders to the people he used to work with. He's pretty handy with weapons, though. I'd say he's even better than you." Rohawk smiled at her teasingly. Amesh rolled her eyes.

"Please! I haven't met one person who handles guns better than me!" Amesh snapped with a smug smirk.

"Not yet anyway." he teased.

"So where is this guy anyway?"

"I got the information this morning that he is being transported over to the Protector's Guild today. If you want this guy, I'd prefer you get him now. Once he's here, no one is to interact with him, not even the Protectors."

"Why is he coming here?"

"Some of us were planning to use his sight, others want to use him as a sacrifice for the aliens. He's pretty famous to the aliens, too. He's killed quite a few at the last alien attack, actually."

"Where is he now?"

"I'm guessing on the deserted highway 15 in a heavily armored truck." he smirked again.

"The highway is rumored to have aliens under it." Amesh gazed quite seriously at him.

"...When was that rumored?"

"Oh, heh, nevermind, I'll deal with it myself. Thanks Rohawk!" Amesh finished then ran out the doorway. Rohawk caught her by the collar, choking her slightly.

"Be careful, ok, girly?" Rohawk said to her seriously.

"I'll be fine." Amesh said, pulling herself loose from his hand. "Oh, and one more thing...Why did you choose to help me with this?" she asked him.

He looked down at her with his gray eyes. "If the world is going to shit anyway, what will a little top secret information slipping out do?" He smiled at his remark.

"Good choice." he giggled and spun on her foot to run down the hallway. It gave her a happy mood to socialize again, being that she's lived in solitude for years with only rocks and dirt to talk to.

"But remember, he is a very dangerous rogue!" he yelled after her as she ran to the exit. Rohawk shook his head and smiled "God have mercy on her."

Once Amesh was outside, she returned the officer's outfit to the still unconscious officer. Amesh retrieved her cloak and put it around her, so once again, she was hidden in darkness. Once she returned to her MRAP, she sped towards the deserted highway. It took about 10 minutes at the speed she went to reach the highway. Knowing its dangers, she kept a fast speed and her gun ready. She scanned the highway with her dark and studious eyes. She squinted to see two headlights coming her way. Since it was night and it was still a distance away, she had the advantage of camouflage. She dimmed her headlights and veered off the road unto the dirt. As she neared the headlights, she could make out details. It was an armored truck, giving the obvious fact that something precious was being carried in the back. She also saw two men, one driving and another who held a gun. A guard, most likely.

Amesh did a U-turn when the truck passed her and followed. She kept a distance of about 100 yards from the truck to make sure she wasn't seen. Her mind flowed with an upcoming plan. She debated on whether to tranquil the driver and his handy man or just kill them. Amesh bit her bottom lip and shook her head.

"Not when so many people are going to die soon..." she growled to herself, then started loading tranquil darts into another gun of hers held between her thighs while keeping one free hand on the wheel.

Suddenly, a ground breaking noise sounded. It was a mix between a thunderous boom and screech. Amesh looked up, her eyes widening and her mouth gaping open. The armored truck was literally flipping past her, crashing, with a shatter, behind Amesh. Then, something crashed onto her windshield. Amesh screamed and swirved sideways, causing whatever was on her windshield to fly off to the side. Amesh flicked on her headlights and did a sharp turn while braking. She skidded to a stop, facing the crash scene. Her eyes scanned the truck with her adrenaline pumping. It was on its side, allowing her to see underneath the truck. It had a very large hole under it. She looked to the side and saw, what it looked like, a fissure in the ground. She swallowed.

"So, something did break the ground..." she whispered shakily to herself.

Amesh looked up to see something very dark approaching the crashed truck. It had six long muscle covered limbs with a round and spiny body that ended with a drill like tail. Obviously the driver must've seen it, because he was struggling out of his truck with a gun in hand. He was bleeding from the neck, which seemed to put the creature into a frenzy. Amesh knew then that the creature was an alien.

Amesh watched as the driver shot wildly at the hungry alien. Every shot seemed to fluster the alien further. She hesitated to help as she watched. With a quick flashback of the previous Alien War, Amesh then jumped out of the MRAP with her special gun in hand. She took aim at the alien. The alien lurched unto the driver in a flash. The man screamed as Amesh heard bones breaking and limbs tearing. Blood was pouring onto the paint of the truck as the alien used its tail to stab its victim repeatedly. With a swallow of bile that had risen in her throat, Amesh shot her gun. The second it hit the alien, the beast screeched and cringed. It threw the decimated man and retreated. Amesh shot again, the alien screeching louder this time. All the gun practice in private greatly improved her aim.

"That's what acid bullets do to you!" Amesh yelled wildly, then shot again. The alien hissed and retreated into the giant crack in the ground.

It then went silent. Amesh stood with her gun cocked in her hand. She stared at the fissure for a long while before her body allowed her to move. Even though she had practiced for years how to kill those things, it was still new to her to actually fight one. Few times had she really been attacked, and it was only by small fry, not big boys like the one she just experienced. It actually put her body into a fear frenzy, where once the threat seemed to be gone, she froze up to give her mind time to process what just occurred. Her knees shook and looked away to the victim of the alien. She had to cover her mouth to keep herself from hurling up what left she had of food in her stomach. It was hardly recognizable that the man was even human. There wasn't an inch of skin that wasn't splattered with blood and his torso was decorated with giant holes that showed how much the tail had destroyed his insides. His appendages were all but torn from his body. Any meat that was there was torn from the bones and most likely eaten. And the head...

Amesh refused to look at him any longer, for she knew if she gazed at the head she would lose her lunch indefinitely. She got into her vehicle and switched the brights on the crash scene so she would be comfortable in the thought that no aliens would dare attack in the light. Light was one of the most effective weapon against the aliens. The light burned their flesh and they were scared of it. That explained the armor the Protectors wore. If an alien touched them, they would be burned. The only other weapon she found just as useful against the beasts were her acid bullets. Inside each fragile bullet was acid, waiting to melt whatever had the luck of being fired. She had made these bullets in the airship she called home after the Alien War. The ship had an surplus of weapons, some she had never seen before she occupied the place.

She left her door ajar so she could make an easy escape if needed. She walked toward the truck and used the wheels to climb on the blood covered driver's door. She grimaced at the blood on her hands and knees.

"Disgusting.." she hissed between her teeth before gazing inside the truck to the guard who was in the passenger's seat.

He too was cut up from the broken glass of the windshield, but it seemed it was the impact of the crash that had snapped his neck and killed him instantly.

"Lucky bastard...You got a quick death while your friend suffered hell."

She shook her head and looked for some sort of switch or button that would open the back of the truck. After a minute of searching she gave up and starting pressing all sorts of buttons. The truck's lights flickered on and off and radio reports came one and so on until bingo, something opened in the back of the truck. Amesh jumped out and walked cautiously towards the back of the truck. The door had lowered just as she hoped.

"Please be in there and please be alive.." she whined quietly as she peeked around the door. It was dark in there. She narrowed her eyes.

"If anyone is hiding, I WILL shoot to kill." She warned, "Come out and I will spare you."

Nothing came out. Not even a noise. She watched the darkness nervously.

"Oh no, please don't tell me he died." She grabbed a flashlight that was equipped on her belt and flashed it inside. There were smashed cardboard boxes and scattered paper inside. Amesh grumbled and carefully climbed inside. She moved the scatter papers and kicked them around. There was nothing inside but large piles of paper.

"Damn it!" she shouted and kicked a pile extra hard out of frustration. Suddenly, her foot made contact with something hard and not thin as paper. She gasped with a smile and kneeled down, shoving the papers away. First she saw the tough black fabric of a sleeve, then a torso and neck, and just as she shoved away the last of the papers, her hands met a wet mound. She jumped back and screamed. He was decapitated, his head ripped cleanly off.


	3. Chapter 3: Surprise

Surprise! Chapter 3 came much earlier than expected! Don't expect Chapter 4 to do the same though, haha. This one is a BIT shorter but is really good! Enjoy!

_Surprise_

There was a muffle behind her. She immediately turned around, her eyes wide. Nothing. Her chest rose and fell quickly. She regained her composure and stood up, kicking paper over the headless neck again. She shivered.

"Great, my last hope decapitated in a car accident." she sighed angrily and turned to jump out of the truck. Again, there was another sound.

With a new feeling on nervousness, Amesh kneeled down to jump out. Suddenly, there was a thump behind her. As she turned to look, something black flew over her head and constricted around her neck, pulling her back into the vehicle. Her hands dropped the flashlight and gun and flew up to grab the rough fabric around her throat. She grunted and yelled, soon abandoning her attempt on releasing the chokehold and went to grab at her attacker's face. Her hands met a mess of hair. She dug in her fingers and racked her nails down whosever head it was. Her fingernails trailed past a set of ears and reached a humanlike face though something was odd about it. There was glass and leather on it... No matter, she was losing air and she had to release herself by whatever attack necessary. She dug in her nails further and clawed what skin was showing, which felt like cheeks and a mouth.

"Gah!" she heard a male voice hiss and the grip on her throat tightened.

"Wait! Rydince!" she managed to choke out with whatever breath she had left.

The grip loosened only slightly, but it was enough to make her grab the restraint again and try to suck in air. The chokehold pulled her upper body up against something strangely warm. There was an eerie breath in her ear.

"What the hell do you want." the voice commanded with a deadly growl.

"Not death.." she wheezed.

"That's all I know." the man's voice whispered.

"Please...Listen to what I have..to say.." she closed her eyes and wheezed, her hands going limp.

"I stopped listening years ago." the man stood up, taking Amesh by the tough black fabric around her neck with him. Her hands dropped to her sides. The man looked down at her for a moment, and slipped the fabric back over her head, under the impression she was unconscious or dead. What he didn't know, was that she was very much awake and was taking in the much needed air as quietly as she could.

Amesh heard the scuff of the attacker's boots. He had kicked her gun unto the dirt outside, along with her flashlight.

"Damn light." she heard him growl. "Knife, knife.." he chanted silently to himself.

She felt pressure on her belt. He must've gone looking for a knife on her. She could sense him leaning over her, patting on her belt instead of just taking it from her. An odd thing for a desperate man. Just as she felt him patting her hip, she opened her eyes and struck out. It was a challenge to aim in the darkness, but she threw a punch in the direction of his stomach. Her fist made contact with a hard abdomen. She wasn't expecting it to be that hard. It actually hurt her hand, but it did its job and sent the man falling back on his butt, grunting in surprise.

Amesh lurched up and sprung from the back of the truck, landing roughly on the dirt, and then rubbing her dried blood covered hands over the surface to find her weapon. The light from her MRAP was blocked by the door of the truck she had lowered, making it quite a challenge to find her gun.

"Damn bitch." the man coughed.

She could hear him shift inside. Amesh squealed in her mind and frantically look for her weapon. She could hear his boots moving to stand up. Then, finally her hand came across a familiar cold metal. She grabbed it and pointed towards the inside of the truck. A light flicked on from what she picked up.

"DAMN IT!" she squeaked, as she realized her flashlight was a useless weapon.

But to her surprise, the man actually winced away from the light, and backed away further into the truck. This gave her enough time to shine her light on the ground and see her gun. She quickly bent down to retrieve it, and right as she straightened to aim her weapon, he was directly in front of her.

Amesh gasped, her dark eyes wide. She stepped back, though he followed each of her steps, keeping the inches of space between them from getting any wider. This kept her from lighting his face with her flashlight and aiming directly at him. The light from the MRAP dimly lit his features, though. He had long, dark, and messy hair that clung to the sweat on his face, and under the hair was tinted goggles that were cracked and were even missing shards of the lens. Along his cheeks were blood droplets from the cuts caused from her nails.

Amesh sucked in her breath and quickly raised her gun to press it to his hip. Her eyes were hard but terrified at the same time, earning an ever so slight smirk from the young man.

"Are you...Rydince?" she asked, struggling to keep her voice from shaking.

"And if I am? You plan to turn me in, all by yourself?" he growled, his smirk still remaining. "A little weak girl."

"I'm not turning you in, and I'm not weak. " she countered, "I need help, and you're the only one who will suffice."

"Suffice? I don't work for anyone." she swore she could see something shine behind the cracks of his goggles.

"You can see? In the dark?"

"What's it to you?"

"I need that advantage against the aliens."

Rydince looked down at the gun at his hip. She followed his gaze and noticed that his arms were binded together in that tough fabric the decapitated corpse wore as well.

"It seems you're in need of my help, too." Amesh smirked, "I don't have a blade with me, but I have one at home that can cut you loose,..IF you agree to help me."

He looked down at her, his smirk widening into an untrustworthy grin.

"Whatever you say, chica."


	4. Chapter 4: Amesh and Rydince

A miracle happened...I completed a long chapter in one day and was in time to post it a day after Ch. 3. I am a god to myself right now, you have no idea, haha. Please enjoy and review!

_Amesh and Rydince_

This was a terrible idea, and her mind presented that very clearly with her anxiety level. With her gun aimed towards him, she stepped away from him a few feet back. At that distance she could see the tough black vest that restrained him. There were pads on his sleeves and buckles that bound his arms together. His vest was also buckled tightly around his torso. Below that, he wore dusty black military pants tucked into tall combat boots.

"Enjoying the show?" Rydince scoffed at her. She looked back up at him and scowled, noticing that she was indeed gawking at him.

"Get over yourself." she snapped, "Follow me, and don't you even think of trying something unless you want a bullet in your head."

"Then I would be useless." he smirked.

"All I need is your sight. I could deal with a crippled leg or arm if it shuts you up." she turned abruptly back towards her vehicle, her face steaming with anger, or at least that's what it felt like.

Rydince gave a silent chuckle, amused by this girl. However, she was a seemingly weak target. She only had this small advantage over him, and once it was gone, he'd be on his way.

He followed after her, shielding his precious eyes from the bright lights of the vehicle. He did notice the bloody mangled mess on the ground though.

"The hell did that?" he grimaced.

"Rogue alien." Amesh answered matter-of-factly, as she opened the door of the passenger side of the MRAP.

"I've seen some things aliens can do, but not that."

"You haven't seen a lot of aliens, then."

"I'd beg to differ." he approached her from behind, but Amesh quickly turned around, her gun aimed at his kneecap.

"Don't plan on choking me again." she warned with a stern look, knowing he could easily throw his arms over her head and put her into a chokehold again.

"Wasn't gonna." he huffed with a grin.

Once he climbed inside with surprisingly little difficulty, Amesh shut the door and ran around to the driver's side. When she was situated, she put the MRAP in drive.

"Quite a bit of blood you got on you." Rydince noted with his head leaning on the window.

"Yeah, it's the victim's. The one you commented on." she responded without looking at him.

She turned the vehicle around and headed in the direction of home. It was quite a ways away. After minutes of silence she finally spoke out.

"You weren't alone in the back of the truck?" she asked.

"No." Rydince responded tonelessly.

"Who was it?"

"Some inmate."

Amesh sighed at his answers. "How did he get decapitated? Was it the crash or..?" she glanced sideways at him. He had a smug grin on his face. It sent chills up her spine. "You're dangerous, even with your arms restrained."

"You have no idea, chica."

"Amesh." she corrected calmly. "My name is Amesh."

"And it seems you already know mine." he sighed and leaned back into the seat. It was easy to tell that he didn't enjoy his arms being restricted together.

"How many aliens have you killed?" she asked.

"Too many to count. Of many species too." he looked over at her, "I've also killed humans before, too. Such fragile things." She refused to look at him and accept his challenge. She had to admit, he might've been scarier than the murderous aliens themselves.

"Where were you here when the previous Alien War was happening?" she cleared her throat. She could feel a nervous sweat develop on her forehead.

"I was forced to fight alongside the Protectors before they threw me off to prison. Though I have to admit, the fight was amazing. It looked like it was raining the beast's blood." he sighed happily, remembering the moments of hacking and slashing.

"You were in prison that long?"

"Boring as hell."

"Why didn't you escape?"

"You can only do so much when your arms are bound together in a straight jacket. Plus, they had my ulaks. I love my ulaks."

"U..ulaks?" she questioned.

"The only blades I will put my full trust into, and frankly, the only thing." he smirked to himself.

After a long while, they passed through the gates of a chain link fence that closed after the vehicle entered. Ahead was a large silhouette of her airship in the darkness of the night.

"Home sweet home." she huffed and slowed the speed of her MRAP.

"Is that...an airship?" Rydince leaned forward, surprised.

"Yeah, the aliens crashed it and killed everyone inside. After the war it was abandoned, so might as well move in. Cleaned it out and what not. All the supplies I need are in there."

"So there are others in there too?" he frowned.

"No. What gave you that idea?"

He turned to look at her, studying her unconsciously. "You don't live with a family? A young person like you?"

The word 'family' made her scowl. "I'm older than I look. And my family were murdered in the war." Her voice was stern.

"Ah." It came as no surprise to Rydince. He heard his share of war stories in the jail. "Protectors got 'em? Aliens?" he really wasn't that interested.

"I did."

He looked at her again, a look of sudden surprise in his shielded eyes."Didn't know you were a cold blooded killer too."

"Actually, I was the only one that could protect them from the aliens and I fled. I am the reason they died. My fear was their tragedy." her voice was emotionless, but the inside of her chest was burning. Even though it had been nearly a decade ago, the thought of her betrayal made her blood run cold.

"That's why I need to kill every last one of those bastards and save whoever I can from being torn apart by those creatures."

Rydince just silently watched outside the window until they pulled up inside the airship from a lowered door. He noticed the title _Ark_ on its side as they disappeared inside.

Dim lights flicked on as the door of the airship shut behind the now parked vehicle. Amesh opened her door and jumped out, rounding her MRAP to the passenger's side and opening the door for Rydince. They didn't make eye contact as she led him down a hall lined with doors and dim flickering lights. Many lights were burned out or dead.

"Welcome to my home. It's not much..but its protection."

Rydince didn't respond to her. Amesh stopped in front one of the many doors and opened it. It was like a small infirmary inside, complete with mobile beds, cabinets, curtains, and first aid kits. The lights were even dimmer in this room. There was only one ceiling light and it was almost burnt out.

Amesh walked to a cabinet and opened it, retrieving cotton balls and a bottle of liquid, assumingly rubbing alcohol. Rydince watched her easily in the dim lighting, his eyes watching her every moment. It was habit to study a target.

"Have a seat, please." Amesh ordered him.

Rydince looked down on the bed and sat down awkwardly, not exactly knowing what she was planning. As he looked back up at her he winced as her hand placed something against his face. Wet cotton touched the cuts on his face...and it _stung_. He jerked away with a hiss.

"The hell are you doing?!" he snapped at her. Amesh furrowed her eyebrows and sighed in frustration.

"What does it look like I'm doing? I'm making sure your face doesn't get infected. Honestly, you're acting like a child." she growled. He glared at her, but she couldn't see it past his goggles.

"Think of it as revenge for nearly choking me to death." she frowned and pressed the cotton ball back to one of the deeper cuts on his cheek.

"Revenge doesn't exactly benefit the victim." he pointed out grumpily.

"The pain doesn't benefit you."

She dabbed the alcohol soaked cotton balls over the scratches on his face, cleaning the little wounds thoroughly. For the deeper cuts she put small band aids over them. Once done, she put the supplies back where she had got them and turned towards Rydince, who was watching her confusedly.

"Now that I patched your face up, you owe me."

"_Owe_ you?" he asked incredulously.

"I saved your butt from going to the Protectors' Guild AND I helped your face. You owe me."

"Owe you _what_?" he eyed her from under his tinted lens.

"You owe me your loyalty." she said bluntly.

"Loyalty?" he groaned, clearly annoyed.

"Yes, until you pay me back, you must pledge your loyalty to me and help me with my revenge on the invaders."

"You do realize how unrealistic it is to wipe out ALL the aliens, right?"

"In the daylight, it's extremely unlikely. But at night, in their prime, I will have your sight and skills to find where they are coming from and to essentially eradicate them." she leaned back on the counter.

"You have a lot of hope don't you?" he sighed.

"Just determination and a knife." she gave a mischievous smile knowing that the knife to cut his restraints was probably the only thing keeping him here.

Rydince stared at her for a long while before giving a long and defeated sigh. He had no idea where this consideration was coming from. Perhaps it'd pass, and once cut free, he would leave.

"Alright, alright. I'll play your little revenge game for a little bit."


	5. Chapter 5: Partners

This chapter was a rush to type so I apologize ahead of time for typos and shortness of it. I had more planned but it seemed perfect to end this where it did. Enjoy!

_Partners_

Amesh's eyes widened and reflexively clapped her hands together in victory.

"Great!" she smiled widely, then quickly noticing his surprised disposition, composed herself and brushed her hair behind her ear.

"Alright" she cleared her throat, embarrassed now, "Let's get you unbounded." She passed him to the door.

"'Bout time." he sighed and stood up, still flustered from her proposition. "Why do I always end up having to help the underdogs?" he grumbled to himself.

"What was that?" she asked from the doorway.

"I said I hope you have a sharp blade for these buckles."

"I have a dagger here somewhere."

She continued her way down the hall with Rydince hesitantly following behind her, watching her every move. She was different, he had to admit that. No one had really used bandages as a way to get him in debt before. It was amusing in a strange sense.

They had entered what seemed like the captain's quarters. It was obvious it was well used. In fact, the lights had all burned out in this room which forced Amesh to light lanterns here and there. Rydince enjoyed the darkness before she lit a lantern that rested on a desk, creating a dim orange light.

"I suppose you sleep in here." Rydince noted boredly.

"It's comfortable enough. More comfortable than the other beds." She had walked to her bed, reaching under her pillow and revealing a sheathed dagger. "This should do the trick."

"You sleep with a knife under your pillow?" he questioned, approaching her and holding up his bound arms.

"Don't you?" she unsheathed the blade. It was long and very sharp. She looked up at him. "Promise me."

"Promise what?"

"Pledge your allegiance to me." she stepped towards him, her face holding a look of determination.

He sighed heavily. "You're really serious about this, huh?"

"You said you would." she took the blade and edged it under the bands of the buckles and slowly cut them away one by one until one remained. "Pledge your loyalty," she demanded, "And you will be released from your bondage."

"Fine. I give you my loyalty." he rolled his eyes and held a sarcastic tone to his voice.

With that, she cut away the last of the buckles. His arms finally spread apart. A grin spread across his face and he began to laugh, stretching his arms.

"Ahahaha! Yes! Ah! It feels so gooood!" he groaned happily and stretched his arms behind his back. Amesh couldn't help but smile at the foolish boy, but that smile soon turned into a frown as Rydince turned around and headed out the door.

She reached out to grab his shoulder "Hey wai-!" Rydince suddenly grabbed her arm and jerked her body forward. He bent down as he hurled her body over him with amazing strength. She landed on her back with a breathless gasp.

"I don't owe you anything." he growled, letting go of her arm and stepping over her. She was stunned with pain and shock. This man was truly the most terrifying thing she had ever experienced in her life.

"W-wait...You promised.." she squeaked quietly. "Don't turn back on your word."

"You shouldn't trust the word from someone like me." he peeked over his shoulder at her.

"I put my trust into you.." She didn't know why, but her eyes began to burn.

"Bad choice." he looked forward again but didn't move. Was this..guilt he was feeling?

"You said you were going to help me!" she choked suddenly and covered her face with her arm, feeling utterly ashamed. How could she trust a rogue. A murderer. Who else had the time to worry about her plot to try and regain her honor for being the reason her family and friends died. Who even bothered to care about her at all. She had been alone for nearly a decade and that seemed to be the fate of her existence, to die alone and tainted with the sins of her past. The only hope she had in years turned on her and was gone in an instant. She clenched her jaw to keep from screaming out all of these conflicting emotions.

Suddenly, a rough hand grabbed her arm and pulled her into a standing position. She looked up with wet and confused eyes. Rydince was before her with his head turned to the side, as if hiding his face. He let go of her arm and took her hand in his and shook it gently.

"You have my word, though it doesn't mean much." he mumbled.

She watched him, almost stunned at this mood change. He looked at her and frowned. "If you don't want it.."

Her head perked up in realization and she shook his hand "Yes!" she cleared her throat, "Yes, I have your word...Thank you." Her gaze fell to their parting hands. Well, this was different. This was a new kind of hope she hadn't felt in a long time. Assured hope.

She looked back up at him, a new smile on her face. A smile of hope and determination. "To our partnership."

Rydince couldn't help but chuckle,"Whatever."


	6. Chapter 6: Business

FIRST OF ALL, IM SORRY! This chapter was super long and took me a couple nights to type, but you wont be disappointed! Oh and something that REALLY inspires me to type chapters faster is feedback! Please give me reviews on what you think of the story, it will really help! And if you want a view of the characters, I've drawn references! gallery/43243024 Rydince looks alot different than Riddick, but also similar in some aspects... ANYWAY, ENJOY!

_Business_

"But first things first. I need to get my ulaks back." he demanded.

"Your trusty blades? Do you even know where they are?" she asked, stepping past him, and walking down a shorter and wider hall than before.

He followed her unconsciously. "With the guys who threw me in prison. The Protectors. "

"You mean we left them in the crashed truck?!" Amesh stopped and looked back at him incredulously.

"No, my blades were sent there before me. They're already at the place." he smirked.

"You mean to tell me that your precious blades are at the Protector's Guild? All the way back in the city?"

"Yup." he stretched again. "It's smart of them though. I'm deadly with my blades." he smiled darkly.

Amesh groaned. "Can't you use other weapons?"

"Hey. I don't fight without my blades. " he warned. They had rounded the corner and ended up in a cafeteria sort of room. This really was a big air ship.

"You really want to go all the way to the city, in the daytime, just for some blades?"

"No. We'd be spotted easily in the daylight. We do it now, while we still have hours of night left." he just smiled casually.

"_Now_? We just arrived here! While you've been resting in the back of a truck, I've been hard at work, and I'm exhausted! Plus, I can't travel on an empty stomach." she walked behind a counter and opened the cupboard to the pantry. She was sorely disappointed. She had eaten the last of her rations that morning.

"But it seems I need to make a run for supplies.." she sighed to herself, rubbing her sore growling stomach.

"I'll drive." Rydince volunteered.

"Excuse me?" she looked up at him.

"I said, I will drive. You can sit in the passenger seat. I can see in the dark. We'll drive undetectable." he crossed his arms and leaned on the wall.

"We'll be more vulnerable to aliens on the prowl." she countered.

"I'm pretty sure the two of us can handle one of those shitheads."

She watched him, her fingers tapping the cupboard door in rhythm. This wasn't that bad of an idea, despite how reluctant she was on going back into town. Such a waste of precious gas.

"Fine." she slammed the cabinet door shut. "But don't waste all my gas."

With that, they left the _Ark_ and out the chain link boundary in the Amesh's military vehicle. She didn't quite trust his driving skills since he was still a stranger to her, so she strapped herself in the passenger's seat, earning a small frown from Rydince.

"I'm a great driver. In all vehicles." he assured her with a slightly offended smirk.

"Well, safety first." she said and rested her head against the window, closing her eyes. She really was exhausted, and it was taking its toll on her with the help of her lack of food.

Rydince drove them through the darkness of the night, seeing every nook in the road clearly. He had his goggles hanging loosely around his neck since there was no need for the tinted lens. His eyes were a glassy ocean gray color that shined silver when light hit them. They were proving extremely useful on this planet of approaching eternal darkness. He occasionally glanced over at the dozing Amesh. She smelled like sweat and dirt, but it wasn't that terrible of a smell. He probably smelled worse, being that he was in that hot chamber in the back of that prison truck. In fact, there was something about her scent that was interesting to him. Normally, people's scents are mixed with the scents of the people that they had interacted with. But this girl's smell was pure, only tainted by his smell and a faint scent of another that was hardly noticeable. She really must've been alone for a long time. He didn't think it was possible for social creatures as human females to be alone for more than an hour. But clearly he was proven wrong. He wondered if she felt as abandoned as he had. Before he stopped caring, of course. He unconsciously touched one of the band aids on his face. Once he noticed what he was doing, he quickly dropped his hand and glanced over at the girl again. He had to admit, she looked strangely innocent when she was asleep. She had the face of a lost child, guarded even in her sleep, but less so than when she was awake.

He quickly shook his head. Time to stop thinking about the little partner of his and pay attention to the approaching city. It was probably one last cities standing with human life in it. And by standing, it was actually in ruins, just more livable than the other decimated cities, which were only made of debris and junk now. The only real building standing was the Protectors' Guild, coincidentally.

Rydince didn't really think there was much life left on this planet other than in this city and, of course, stragglers like the girl and himself. In the Alien War, half of the world was murdered by the mass of the aliens, and hundreds of millions were killed by the impact of the invasion itself. This area was just lucky enough to be on the opposite side of the planet when the invasion hit. It didn't save anyone though. The Protectors Guilds were only made shortly before the news of the invasion reached the cities. And they were far from ready to handle the full blow of the invasion.

There was a faint glow of lanterns through the city to replace the streetlights. It was easy to find the location of the Guild because of the powerful light emanating from within its walls. Within minutes Rydince had arrived within a mile radius of the Guild. He pulled into a dark alley and parked. He sat there for a few minutes before gazing down at his little partner. She was still sleeping, except now she had pulled her legs up and had her arms wrapped around them. Rydince chuckled quietly. He hated to admit it, but she was almost cute like that, so helpless and innocent. He shook his head.

"No...No more getting close to people." he whispered to himself and shook Amesh's shoulder roughly. She jumped awake, gasping and whipping her gun out so quickly that it actually slipped out of her hand and flew into Rydince's gut. He winced and picked up the gun. They both stared at each other for a moment before they broke into a small laugh. Well, it was mostly Amesh who was laughing. Rydince just smirked playfully at her as if saying she was a goof.

"May I have that back, please?" she asked politely.

He glanced at the gun and twirled it in his hand. "Never seen a weapon like this before."

"I created it from parts of the firearms I found among the surplus of weapons on the ship." she answered his mental question.

"You can never have a surplus of weapons." he continued to examine the black gun. It had a bulky structure and had an acidic purple colored casing over the handle. He looked at her questioningly.

"It shoots acidic bullets. That purple color is acid itself in the gun handle. Comes in handy when I run out of bullets in close combat." She began to get a little nervous that this convict was hesitating on returning her weapon.

"Let's hope it doesn't get to that point." he seemed to sense her nerves and handed the gun back to her before opening the door and getting out of the vehicle.

Amesh holstered her gun then unbuckled herself. She headed out after Rydince. The chill of the night bit at her skin and gave her goose bumps. Last time she was here, she had her cloak to warm her.

"So, do you have any idea where your blades may be?" she asked him as they quickly walked towards the walls of the Guild.

He smiled mischievously. "Nope."

She sighed and decided to keep away from the questions for now. Rydince had his goggles off, she noticed, though she resisted from staring at him. She couldn't take his smartass remarks right now.

Once they reached the wall, Rydince easily climbed up. While balancing at the top, he turned to reach down and help her up, but she was already climbing the wall almost as easily as he had. He smirked and nodded his respect to her before they both jumped down into the bushes below. Being that Amesh already made her way through the security before, she easily wound her way across, around, and through the traps. Rydince studied her movement intensely before following her exact steps through the security. She watched him, a little impressed by his mimicking of her moves. He made his way over the last laser trigger and crouched down behind her.

"Easy enough." he grinned.

Amesh looked around while hiding behind more bushes. She couldn't disguise herself this time with Rydince with her, so she had to pay extra attention. To make things worse, he kept inching closer to her, as if pressuring her to go into the open. She turned her head to glare at him. He had already put his goggles back on. She rolled her eyes with a quiet sigh.

"Could you give me some space, please?" she hissed to him.

He was about to answer her before his head perked and he suddenly grabbed her shoulders, forcing her down in the dirt with his body pressed against her back. His hand quickly covered her mouth to stop her protest. She then looked up to see the shoes of a security guard walking towards their bush. She froze, even paused her breathing as the shoes closed its distance towards the bush. The shoes stopped within inches of her nose. She could tell the guard was looking over the bushes and traps. After what seemed like an hour, the shoes finally turned to patrol elsewhere. Once out of earshot, she exhaled sharply. Rydince removed his hand so she could breathe. He too had stopped breathing and was now taking small recovery breaths. She could feel his diaphragm expand and release against her lower back. She grimaced and elbowed his chest, pushing him back roughly.

"Warn me next time!" she hissed sharply. He sat back with that small mischievous smile. "Will do."

She wasn't aware how hot her face had gotten, but Rydince could see the flush of her cheeks with his special eyes, which had caused him to smile.

Amesh turned and jumped out of the bushes, running to the doors and yanking on them. Locked. She cursed herself. Last time she had the keys of the officer to open these doors. Rydince stalked up behind her.

" Excuuuse me." he pushed her aside and gripped the handles of the doors. With a noticeable flex of his biceps, the handles broke with a loud clink. He threw the broken handles down and shoved the door open with his shoulder. Amesh was about to run inside before he grabbed her shoulder. She looked back at him curiously. He pointed down.

"You almost triggered the alarm." he warned her. She looked down to see the faint light of a laser. She carefully stepped over it, and he did the same. Amesh somewhat knew the layout inside the Guild from her last visit. She ventured down the long pristine white corridors, glancing up at the signs above the doors. She stopped at the door where she had read the information from before. She touched the handle and sighed. Where was Rohawk when she needed him.

"What's in there?" Rydince asked, not exactly expecting her to know.

"Records of the Alien War. There are also current records in there, too. I'm assuming there is something in there that says where your ulaks are."

Again, he pushed her out of the way and gripped the door handle. His arms flexed again, but this handle wouldn't give away as easily. He twisted the handle upward and pulled until it creaked and was essentially ripped away. He exhaled and kicked the door open.

"Shhh!" Amesh hissed at him. She was praying there weren't any Protectors around. Rydince strolled inside, enjoying the short moment of darkness before Amesh managed to find the light switch and flick it on.

"Where the hell do we look?" he growled.

She ignored him and opened the cabinet she had previously looked in hours earlier. She looked through papers in more recent dates and made quite a few discoveries. All the other Protectors Guilds were demolished and cities were deemed ghost towns all over the planet. No life, just bones. She flicked through a few more reports. There was a paper on Rydince.

"Your name is Van C. Rydince?" she asked with a wide smile on her face.

"What are you looking at?" he frowned and looked over her shoulder. She hid the paper in her chest protectively.

"Your account. It says some terrible things about you. Like how many lives you've taken and all your crimes."

"Trust me, I've done more than what's printed on that piece of paper." the straight line of his lips told her that he was being dead serious. She shuddered and set the paper back, not exactly wanting to know anymore about his past. He turned back to overlooking the archives.

Amesh sighed, "I wish Rohawk was here to help."

Rydince turned around to ask who that was before something hit him in the head, knocking him unconscious immediately. Amesh heard the thud of his body hitting the ground and turned around.

"Ryd-" a hand closed over her mouth and something black was wrapped over her eyes. She tried to scream and fight but two strong grips pulled her up by her arms.

"Intruders!" she heard a man's voice snap.

"How the hell did Rydince get in here?! And without restraints!"

"And who is this? Another convict? His accomplice?"

All these male voices were unknown to her. She began to violently shake her head, trying to get the hand off her mouth. When that didn't work, she bit into the thick glove covered hand. She heard a man yell and felt an immediate pain to the pressure points of her neck. She cried out and struggled.

"Let me go!" she shouted and kicked.

"Take them to the cells." a familiar male voice ordered. Amesh quit struggling and raised her head.

"Roh-" With a sudden pain, everything went black.


	7. Chapter 7: Discovery

Hey guys! Just warning you, there is some cussing in this chapter! But PRETTY PLEEEEEEASE R&R! If your a fan of AmeshxRydince you'll love/hate this chapter, haha. Thanks and enjoy!

_Discovery_

Rydince's head was throbbing with a headache. It took him a few moments to recollect what had happened to him. He was looking at the drawers of reports with Amesh .She mentioned some name, and then everything was a blur from there...Amesh! It was then he realized there was warmth underneath his head, and there was a shaky but gently warm hand touching his hair, moving ever so slightly. Someone was petting him very softly. He couldn't say it was a familiar touch. In fact, it was totally foreign to him. He knew it was Amesh from the scent of the hand. Rydince groaned and opened his eyes. There was black cloth blindfolding him, but his eyes could see past the thin dark cloth. He looked up at Amesh's face hovering above him. She was blindfolded too, but in her mouth was a thick rag to keep her from talking, or in the Protector's case, from biting.

Amesh was unmoving with conflicting emotions of fear, frustration, sadness, and confusion. The only part of her that moved was her hand on Rydince's head, which was resting in her lap. He was the only thing familiar to her in the condition she was in. She was blind and speechless in an unknown area. She was scared and her touch on him was the only thing keeping her from thrashing around and hurting herself. He was her sanity at the moment.

For some reason it disturbed him to see her restrained so. He frowned and reached up with his cuffed hands, removing the rag from her mouth. She winced, clearly not expecting that.

"Please tell me that is you, Rydince..." she pleaded very quietly once he dropped the rag on the ground. He had never seen her so submissive and scared before, despite the short time he had spent with her.

"Yeah, it's me. What happened?" he asked her calmly, not wanting her anxiety to spike.

"They found us...The Protectors threw us in some jail cell.." her voice was very quiet. He wondered if they had done something to her.

"Did they hurt you?" he asked her.

"Not really, no.."

"You sound in pain."

"...Not physically."

Rydince didn't really understand that. Feeling pain, but not physically? Must be a female thing. He had felt all sorts of pain, and it was all physical. He stared up at her through the blindfold. It was then he noticed her hands were bound tightly together with leather, which made him frown.

"Lean down." he ordered her, but in a non-threatening voice. He was going to free her first before they did anything else. That was for sure.

"Lean down?" she echoed him.

"Lean towards my voice. I'm going to take off your blindfold." he assured her.

She was hesitant, but slowly leaned her head down towards his. He felt the ends of her hair tickle his skin and her shaky breath on his face. A small smile crept its way across his lips as he reached up with his cuffed hands and jerked on the black cloth, bringing her face even closer. On accident, of course. His fingers wriggled under the cloth and pulled it off her head, leaving her hair a mess.

Amesh immediately opened her eyes. Even though the room was shadowed with darkness, she could see that his face was mere inches from hers. She jerked her head back with a small gasp and looked away.

"Sorry! I wasn't aware.."

"Put your wrist in my mouth." he suddenly demanded. She looked down at him, surprised.

"Excuse me?"

"I'm going to bite the leather off."

"I can do that." she frowned.

"My jaw is stronger. Let me do it."

"And if I don't?"

" Then you'd better pray I don't break these cuffs."

Seeing what he could do with metal door handles, cuffs probably weren't any harder. Amesh gulped and quickly lowered the leather bonds to his lips. He bared his teeth and latched onto the leather. It almost amazed her how well he could locate things with the blindfold over his eyes. He jerked his head to the side and pulled the leather with his teeth. Even in the extremely dim light, she could see the muscle of his jaw flex. With a small snap, one of the straps came loose. Amesh winced, actually shocked that his teeth could bite through the tough leather.

"And you continue to surprise me."

"I'm full of them." he mumbled before busying his teeth the with remaining leather straps.

Amesh sighed and looked towards the cell door. She was thinking about that man's voice who ordered them in here. It had to have been Rohawk, but why would he betray her like that? She understood that he had to show authority among the other Protectors, but he let them bind her and nearly gag her. So much for a friend. She sighed again and looked down at Rydince's blindfold. It seemed he was looking curiously up at her with the way his head was slightly tilted. She narrowed her eyes and frowned.

"What?" she growled.

"Mind taking off my blindfold now?" he answered with an equal tone.

She raised her hands. Relief washed over her as her hands were able to move about without restraint. She then slipped her fingers under the black fabric over his eyes and pulled it off. She had to admit, it startled her to see two shining silver eyes look up at her.

Before either one of them could say something, there was a noise at the cell door. Amesh perked her head up, staring wide eyed at the metal door. Through the barred window of the door, Rohawk's eyes appeared.

"Girly?" Rohawk whispered. This earned a scowl from Rydince

"Rohawk?!" Amesh would've gotten up if Rydince's head wasn't pressed down in her lap.

"Amesh, please forgive me...I couldn't let the others know that we had connections." his eyes looked shameful, "And there's a few things I need to tell you.."

If she could, she would've shrunk back. "What...?"

"All this hope you have about fighting the next Alien War...There's nothing any of us can do. We're part of the last human beings on Earth. I doubt there are even any animals left anymore. We have no chance against another Invasion."

"We..We have Rydince! He could lead us to them in the-"

"Amesh! Listen to me! If we're lucky to survive another alien infested asteroid impact, there is no way we can handle thousands, if not millions, of aliens by ourselves! And even if we were to somehow live , there is an inevitable death coming to all of us. Even the invaders!" he looked down, his eyebrows creasing.

"Rohawk. What are you talking about..?" Amesh's voice was soft and quiet.

"I thought you would've seen it in the reports but.." he cleared his throat, "There is an asteroid heading towards this planet, and it is infested with those bloody beasts, just like the last Alien War. And just like last time, it will knock us off the Earth's axis even more so. Except this time, we will end up colliding with our moon, essentially killing every last thing on this planet. We have no means of escape. Our death is certain, that is why I let you in and find out information about the previous war and the rogue convict. "

Amesh stared. Her brown eyes were emotionless, just staring towards Rohawk, but not exactly focusing on him. She was frozen, just like when she went through the fear frenzy back at the prison truck crash.

Rydince's eyes never left her face as Amesh talked to the man named Rohawk. The girl was stunned by the news. He scowled again and finally turned his head to glare at Rohawk. After moments of silence, Amesh finally responded.

"I have a ship. An airship. It's in bad shape, but I believe we can fix it up in time...But exactly, how much time do we have left..?"

"Starting tomorrow, it'll be eight days before the asteroid enters the atmosphere." Rohawk looked back up at Amesh, his scar gleaming against his dark skin.

"Rohawk, I need you to do me a big favor." Amesh gently slid Rydince's head off her lap, who was reluctant to do so since it was so warm and comfortable, and stood up to walk towards the cell door.

"Gather all the remaining survivors, both animal and human. Get all the supplies you can find, we'll need them. Find a map of space ports and find the closest one, that is where we'll be headed." her face was serious, full of that determination she had.

"You know how to fly an air ship, girly? Do you even know what's wrong with the thing?"

"Rydince said he knows how to drive any vehicle. An airship is no different."

Rydince snorted at his name being brought into the conversation.

"Never said an airship." he scoffed, obviously in a sour mood now.

"I think one of my fellow Protectors is a professional mechanic. He can go with you to your ship and help get it repaired." Rohawk inquired.

Amesh walked to the door and gripped the bars of the window.

"Rohawk...I need something else. Rydince's ulaks. We need them, along with his goggles."

Rohawk nodded, "The others won't like this. Count yourself lucky you have connections with the last Protector Captain."

Amesh nodded to him as he turned away. She looked back at Rydince. He was blowing his hair out of his face, irritably. She walked back over to him, wincing as she stopped. He noticed that.

"Somethin' wrong?" he asked boredly. Just then, Amesh's stomach gave off a loud growl, making her cheeks flush with embarrassment. He sat up and looked at her, his eyes catching the faint light and flashing silver. He held a smug smile on his face, which made Amesh look away.

"You trust me quite a lot, huh?" he asked, a little too mischievously.

"What choice do I have? You're kinda my last hope here." she turned towards the door. "Well, was..."

That comment made Rydince lurch up. He didn't know why, but he was suddenly upset and furious. He grabbed her arm and jerked her towards him.

"Hey! I didn't agree to help you for fun! We agreed on your stupid terms for your fucking sake! Don't give up on me just because this isn't what you expected!" he snapped sharply at her. Amesh stared at him wide eyed, her expression aghast. He suddenly dropped her arm at seeing the fear in her eyes. Why had be become so possessive just now? He turned away with a growl.

"I-I...I'm not giving up...There's just a different plan now, and you don't have to be here anymore.." She didn't realize how much it would hurt to say that. She hardly knew him. He was a convict, she should be happy to send him off...But then again, he stayed with her when she was alone for years on end. He _wanted_ to stay, even after finding out what she had done to her family and friends. She felt a pinge of pain in her chest.

"Is that it? I'm not needed, so I can be thrown away like trash?" he snorted and nodded. "Yeah, that's all I ever been. Trash." he scratched his head and turned toward her.

"Once we get that piece of shit you call a ship running, I'm out." he was genuinely furious. Perhaps deep inside...he wanted to stay? Oh what was he thinking, of course not! Women are useless things.

Amesh just blinked then nodded. "Yeah..If you want, sure."

The jail cell door suddenly opened. "Alright, kids. Time's up. Let's go." Rohawk smiled. Amesh turned towards him and nodded.

"I'll, uh, drive us to my ship." she gave him a forced smile and slipped past him. Rydince was already approaching Rohawk.

"Let me get you unlocked." Rohawk offered, but instead Rydince lifted his hands and pulled the cuffs apart, little bits of the chain links spattering over the floor. Rydince gave him a deadly smirk.

"My things." Rydince demanded, earning a frown from Rohawk. Rohawk just sighed and handed him his goggles and two curved blades that were his ulaks.

"You ready for what's to come, convict?"

Rydince just glanced at him, slipping on his goggles as he past him, purposely bumping into his armor covered shoulder.

"Always."


	8. Chapter 8: Mission

Hey, guys! So this is the longest chapter I've written yet and it is quite ACTION PACKED! Please enjoy and don't be too angry with what happens haha. Btw, Fanfiction won't allow to see new reviews/follows, any idea on how to fix that? ((Excuse any typos))

_Mission_

They had been released from the Guild and were heading towards Amesh's MRAP. Rohawk had stayed behind to settle the others and carry out what Amesh had requested of him, but not without sending the mechanic with them. This Protector was shorter and less muscular than Rohawk by far, but he still wore that shining armor. He had kept his helmet on since they left, leaving his appearance a mystery. Rydince was trailing behind them, nearly dragging his feet. He felt absolutely terrible about his possessive behavior towards the girl he hardly knew. Amesh on the other hand was leading them and tried to release the awkward tension.

"What's your name, mechanic?" she asked.

"Barry." he muttered from under his helmet.

"Nice to meet you, Barry. I'm Amesh." she looked back and gave him a forced friendly smile. This earned an audible growl from Rydince.

"Mhmm." Barry replied.

Amesh sadly decided he wasn't one for conversation. She needed a distraction.

They all hopped into her military vehicle and she set out of the city. It was very silent inside the MRAP, the air full of tension. Amesh sighed and wished music was still around to break the uneasiness. She drove with the headlights on down the highway, passing the wreck from earlier. The blood was still vivid against the truck's paint, but all traces of the corpse was gone. The beast must've came back for his meal.

Just then there was a strong earthquake accompanied by the same sound as before, just hours ago when the truck was trashed. She immediately slammed her boot on the brake, causing the vehicle to swerve over the dirt. Both boys inside the car gasped and grunted as they struggled to catch themselves. Just then a large skin covered drill, followed by a tail, tore through the ground before them, nearly nicking the bumper. Amesh quickly put the vehicle in reverse and pushed the gas, sending the boys once again flying. Their fault they weren't buckled in.

A familiar spiking body emerged from the new hole in the ground. It was the alien that murdered the truck driver. It faced the MRAP, its six limbs clawing at the ground and its four eyes staring down the victims inside the vehicle. Blood dripped from its jaws as it belched a screech at him. Its skin was steaming in the lights of Amesh's vehicle. It was actually sizing them up, despite the fact that its skin was burning.

Amesh took the challenge. She was in a bad mood and this son of a bitch was the final straw. She unbuckled herself, her rage-filled eyes never leaving the alien's.

"What are you doing?" Barry asked, staring at her. Rydince didn't say anything, but he was just as surprised.

Amesh didn't answer him. She just drew forth her deadly gun and opened the door, stepping out into the open. The alien answered her anticipation with a bloody scream. It moved out of the burning light and hissed, stepping towards its potential meal. She knew it hungered for her blood. She knew that just the smell of her blood would put it into a feeding frenzy. She cocked her gun and creased her brow.

"Get the fuck back inside!" Rydince yelled from inside the vehicle.

Amesh slammed the door shut. She unsheathed a knife from her belt and held it in her hand that supported her aiming. She really looked like she belonged to the military.

"Come on!" she shouted as she charged at the alien. The alien answered with a screech and lurched forth.

Amesh didn't exactly know why she was behaving the way she was. She was just so _furious_. She couldn't handle the cooped up emotions anymore. She just wanted a release, even if it meant a painful death. She didn't have anything to live for. She had made an utter fool of herself to the only person she really considered a friend in all these years of isolation.

She paused for a split second. Wait, was this death wish really just for the stupid convict? For the stupid argument they had?

That split second that she had paused for cost her dearly. The alien was already at her feet before she had time to jump back, barely dodging its deadly talons. She cocked her gun and quickly shot. Bullets punctured it's legs and back while snapping a few spikes. It raised its head and screamed as the acid ate through its skin. It reared up, swiping its four arms at her. She stepped back, continuing to shoot at its arms, successfully blowing off at least six of its talons. She took aim at its head to deal the final blow when the gun suddenly clicked as she pulled the trigger. A fine time to have to reload. She bit her lip and turned, running away to try and give herself time to reload.

Something grabbed her ankle tightly. She gasped as it jerked her ankle in the air, sending her body into the dirt first then flailing in the air. She felt it's cold blood run down her leg as the alien held her up with its injured arm. She looked up to see its furious eyes glowering down at her. It bared its fangs and hissed in her face. Its drill-like tail flung wildly as it snapped at her. The only thing keeping it from chomping on her was that she was swinging her knife and gun at its face.

Suddenly the dumb creature had an idea. It raised its grip on her and slammed her down on the ground, successfully stunning its prey. Amesh cried out as pain shot through her body. The alien quickly lifted her back in the air and was about to sink its jaws around her head when it suddenly felt an immensely sharp pain in its mouth. Amesh's hand was inside its mouth, her knife stabbing through its bottom jaw. Cold blood spilled onto the dirt. The beast screamed loudly, nearly making Amesh's ears bleed, as it threw her away. Still being slightly stunned, she wasn't able to catch herself as her body hit the ground and rolled. She inhaled sharply and groaned in pain.

"Bullets.." she croaked to herself as her hand shakily reached to her belt, trying to grasp the ammo.

The alien on the other hand was thrashing wildly, grabbing at the blade piercing through its bottom jaw. Finally it gripped the knife's handle and ripped it out, throwing it in its prey's direction.

To add to Amesh's misfortune, the bloody knife that the beast threw towards her had ricocheted off the hard dirt and scaled her arm, slicing the skin open. She again cried out and dropped her now bleeding arm. The scent of the blood caught the invader's attention. It stopped thrashing and slowly perked his in her direction. The delicious smell of her blood excited it, pumping its adrenaline into a feeding frenzy. It suddenly charged after her.

Amesh looked down at her bloody arm then at the charging alien. She cursed to herself and tried once again to reach the ammo on her belt. She felt a small amount of relief as she managed to grab a magazine. She lifted her gun and struggled to reload it. Every move she made was searing pain. As she opened the gun to load the new magazine, she glanced at the alien, only yards away from her now and quickly closing the distance. She quickly tried to load her gun, but pain shot through her arm and she dropped the ammo, flinching from the pain.

Now she had no time at all to reload and possibly save herself. This was it. This was the end. She leaned her head back in the dirt and closed her eyes, accepting this painful defeat. But she didn't feel any pain, instead she heard the alien suddenly hiss and a man grunting.

"The FUCK are you doing!?" Rydince screamed out.

Amesh slowing looked up. Rydince had an ulak pierced into the alien's chest and the other inside its forehead. The alien was so distracted by its hunger for her blood, that it didn't even noticed Rydince's ambush.

The alien's limbs fell limp. Rydince jerked his precious blades out of the tainted flesh and the body fell to the ground. He glared down at the alien. His goggles had been thrown off in the vehicle.

"Amesh, what the _hell_ was that." he snapped, glancing over at her. She was unmoving on the ground, her blood trickling down her arm.

His growled at the smell of blood as he approached her. He sheathed his bloody blades and kneeled down beside her, checking her pulse on her neck. He sighed in relief as he felt a pumping heart beat. Wait, he just sighed in _relief_? What was he worried about?

He looked down and collected her gun and fallen ammo, and with each in hand, he slipped his arms under her knees and back and picked her up.

"Don't move me..." she groaned in pain. Her body ached terribly so.

"Take this as my revenge." he growled quietly.

"What was that?" she groaned again, wincing in pain.

He ignored her and walked towards the MRAP again. He passed the alien's body on the ground. Just then he heard a gurgled hiss. Right as he turned to look down at the alien, defenseless with the girl in his arms, there was a flash of light and the beast's head essentially disintegrated . Rydince would've jumped aside if there wasn't a person in his arms. He looked back to see the Protector aiming a heavy looking white gun that covered his right forearm. In his other hand was Amesh's knife.

"Watch it!" Rydince snapped. Barry just huffed.

Barry had hopped into the driver's seat while Rydince sat in the back with Amesh still in his arms. It seemed she was unconscious. He was keeping pressure on her injured arm the best he could while keeping her head supported. He felt absolutely miserable about letting her get into danger like that. It wasn't her place to risk her life like that! And it nearly scared him half to death, he hated to admit. Women always had to prove themselves in stupid, dangerous ways.

Rydince directed Barry to the _Ark_'s location. He remembered it clearly from the first time they traveled there. Barry was awe stricken at the ship.

"Haven't seen one of those babies in eight years!" he exclaimed. Rydince just smirked at him.

"Better remember how to fix one. Our lives depends on your knowledge."

They pulled into the airship and exited the vehicle. Rydince carried Amesh out carefully, already heading down the hallway towards the infirmary.

"Wait! Where is the control room?!" Barry yelled after him.

"Good luck!" was all Rydince had to say to that. He had no idea where hardly any room was, except the infirmary, the cafeteria, and...Amesh's room.

He kicked the door open to the dark room. He still had his goggles off, so he navigated through the room easily. He laid Amesh on a bed and gazed down at her.

"Hey, chica...Time to wake up." he tapped her head. She didn't respond. He gazed down to her arm. It was still bloody, but for the most part dry. He turned to search for a rag along the cabinets. Once he came across one, he grabbed it and soaked it with the alcohol Amesh used on his cuts earlier. He rounded the bed and placed the wet rag on the gash on her arm. Immediately, Amesh let out a painful gasp.

"Ow!" she squeaked and jerked her arm away, quickly regretting the action. Rydince grabbed her arm and forced it against the bed, soon placing the rag back on the wound. She whimpered and flinched.

"Revenge." he said simply.

"Revenge doesn't benefit the victim." she whined.

"Pain doesn't benefit you." he smiled that mischievous little smile of his.

Amesh turned her head away and groaned. "The bandages...They are in the cabinet in the far right." she weakly pointed in the direction. She felt like every inch of her body was heavily bruised, and it probably was.

Rydince followed her direction and retrieved the bandages. She attempted to sit up and help herself, but Rydince wouldn't let her have it. He made her lay back down and rest. He did his best to wrap the bandage around her wound after cleaning it with the alcohol rag.

Amesh couldn't help but chuckle at him. She didn't think he really knew what he was doing, but she didn't blame him. This was better than wallowing in the tension of their fight. She really did regret what she had said to him, and it was evident on her face.

"Still hurts?" he asked upon seeing the hurt expression in her eyes. She winced and looked at him.

"Oh, just sore. Never really been thrown on the ground before." she forced a laugh then flinched. It hurt her ribs to laugh.

"Did you break anything?" he asked.

"I don't think so, just some bone bruises." she smiled softly to him, as if that would help resolve their tension.

"Heeeey! Amesh?!" Barry's voice rang from the hall. Rydince turned to the door and called to him. He stood between Barry and Amesh when he entered the room.

"Found the problem. The engine is shot and the battery cells are depleted. I can fix the engine, but we're gonna need some new battery cells. Four if we want to travel far, but two if we just need to get somewhere close within the solar system." Barry reported. He had his helmet off now. It revealed a younger man with light brown hair in a buzz cut and bright blue eyes. Freckles dappled his cheeks and his face was thin.

"Where the hell do we get battery cells?" Rydince scowled.

Barry paused a moment before retrieving a radio from his belt.

"Rohawk, we found the problem with the ship. Good news is, we can repair it, bad news is that we don't know where new battery cells for airships can be found."

"Roger that. Let me take a look here..." Rohawk's voice echoed from the handheld radio, "Well I'll-be-darn. You lucky bastards, there's a report here that states the neighboring capitol has a running factory for battery cells. Don't know if it's still there, but it's worth a look if we're all gonna die."

Barry nodded as if Rohawk himself was there. "Yes, sir!"

Rydince rolled his eyes and snatched the radio. "Hey, some directions would be nice." he growled to Rohawk.

Rohawk explained the directions to him. Rydince studied what he said, memorizing each and every word. "The trip will take ten hours by car, if you're going 80mph."

"Ten hours!?" Rydince exclaimed, revealing more of his impatient behavior.

"Rydince." Amesh called to him. He turned towards her and walked to her side. She rested a hand on his arm.

"We can make it there and back within eight days." she gave him a small smile.

"We don't know what dangers are there." he countered against her.

"But we do know what awaits us if we stay here. Rydince," she gave his arm a small tug, "Would you like to accompany me on this mission? To help me once again?"

He stared down at her, silently.

"...And I'm sorry about what I said before. You're not useless. You are quite the opposite, and I need your help.." she tried to smile at him, but after moments of silence she looked down, accepting his silence as a rejection.

"You'd be screwed without me." he said finally. She looked up to him again. He was grinning.

"To our stupid partnership." he chuckled deeply.

"Yeah, yeah." Amesh smiled in return.


	9. Chapter 9: Journey

Heeeey, So after I said I wasn't receiving follows/favorites, it suddenly fixed itself (for the most part), but I'm still not seeing the reviews. So if you guys could do me a favor and review this (to see if its working), it'd be SUPER helpful! BTW this was a sort of filler chapter to prepare for the main events! Excuse any typos! THANKS!

_Journey_

Instead of leaving right away, the boys decided it was safe to let Amesh heal for a day or two before setting out, but of course she didn't like that. Though it didn't matter how much she protested, she couldn't convince her body to stop hurting. It wanted and needed to heal.

"Ugh!" she groaned in frustration, like she had been doing every other hour. She was moved to the comfort of her captain's quarters and was forced to rest in the bed. The real torture of it was that she was still hungry. Very hungry. Her stomach growled loudly.

Light was creeping though the windows, finally. It had been nighttime for nearly seventeen hours. Amesh sat up with a small wince and looked out the dusty window. The sky was an unhealthy orange-yellow color from all the pollution caused from the preparation and duration of the Alien War, but it was more than welcome. It meant safety, though it was only temporary for seven hours.

Amesh swung her legs over the side of her bed and tried to stretch her limbs, bearing the immense pain from the deep bruises. Again her stomach growled.

"I. Need. Food." she stood up shakily at first, then walked to her door. Her arm still stung with pain. The cut wasn't deep enough to be stitched, but it was a long wound.

She grabbed the handle and tried to quietly open the door. The two boys had it out for her to stay in bed all day, but they didn't know the extent of her famine.

The door creaked open and she froze, hoping no one heard that. Once nothing happened after a moment of waiting, she slipped out. She tiptoed down the hallway. She had left her boots in her rooms but still wore her kneepads. They came in use when it came to the comfort and support of running. Plus they kept her boots from chaffing her knees.

"Gotta make a run for food.." she whispered to herself as she snuck in the direction of where the MRAP was kept. She knew Barry was most likely in the engine room, but Rydince on the other hand was another story. He could've been anywhere.

To her surprise, she had successfully made it to her military vehicle. Rydince must've been sleeping somewhere, because he wasn't there to stop her like she had expected. She jumped into the driver's seat and went to turn on the vehicle when she noticed there were no keys. She always had the keys in the ignition. Always. She creased her brows and looked around her seat frantically.

"Ahem." a cold voice growled in her ear from behind. She froze, her hand instinctively on her knife's hilt.

"Where do you think you're running off to?" Rydince hissed quietly. Even though they had made that agreement for a second time, he was still an unpredictable animal. He could be a mischievous boy one moment and then a ferocious rogue the next. Amesh tried to swallow her nerves.

"Food run. You know I've been starving..."

"That'd be a little challenging seeing that the keys to your car are missing."

That comment made Amesh frown. "This is _not_ a car. It is a Mine Resistant Ambush Protected vehicle. A military vehicle. _Not_ some car."

"So, now you have the strength to sass me?" he moved to growl in her other ear.

"I feel a little better..." she tried to convince him.

"Hmmm, I bet." he huffed, obviously not believing it.

"I really do." she turned to frown at him and was met with those two beastly silver eyes.

"How about I be the judge of that." his eyes flickered down at her form, as if examining her. For some reason, she felt she had to shield herself from him.

"How do you plan to do that?" she asked, trying to sound stern.

"Let's fight. Winner takes the keys." he grinned darkly. That expression sent chills down her spine.

"Fight?! You're a convict whose had plenty of fighting experience! That is hardly fair!" she snapped at him.

His eyes flashed to her own. "Fine. If you can land a punch right here," he tapped his left cheek, "then you can take the keys and quit your resting."

Amesh growled, and so did her stomach. "You're killing me here!"

"Suffering is nothing new." he shrugged and sat back. Amesh groaned loudly in frustration and shoved the door open, wincing at the strain on her arms.

"Told you your not okay. Plus a food run is a waste of gas." he snickered from inside the vehicle. She bit her tongue to keep her from having a tantrum and slammed the door shut. "I'm going to die from starvation!"

"Sleep it off!" Rydince grinned.

He watched her storm off with a smug smile before laying his head back on the seat. It was a waste of daylight to be slacking off before the world essentially ended. And he was starting to get hungry too, but this day was needed for rest and the ship's repairs.

The short hours of the daylight disappeared as soon as they arrived. The three survivors stayed in the protection of the airship, Barry staying in the engine room and reporting to Rohawk , Amesh resting and suffering in her room, and Rydince exploring and sleeping while keeping an eye on Amesh's escape plans to get food. The seventh day had slipped on by with ease.

Early the sixth day, Amesh put her escape plan into motion again. It must've been around 4 a.m. when she snuck out her room again. If she wasn't going to get the keys to her MRAP, she was at least going to try and get outside to forage something to eat. She was desperate enough.

She entered the room where her MRAP was kept. She ducked down as she passed the vehicle, in case Mr. Killer was still in there waiting for her. She headed for the switch to open the door when she heard a scuff behind her. She whipped around to see those damn eyes again flickering in the glare of the dim light.

"You don't listen, do you?" he growled, leaning against her vehicle and twirling the keys around his finger. Amesh sighed irritably.

"You know what, fine! Let's fight! I will die if I don't eat something soon!" she snapped and stepped towards him.

Rydince's head perked up at the challenge, "You sure about that? You could hurt yourself further, ya know?" he smiled darkly.

"Whatever!" she lurched towards him, throwing her fist for the obvious hit. Rydince caught her fist easily in his hand. She launched her other fist and was just as easily captured. This earned a smirk from Rydince.

"Please tell me you can fight better than that. How did you survive out here?" he taunted her.

She screamed at him and slammed her heel down on the toes of his boot. He winced slightly and quickly used his free foot to sweep kick her legs, causing her to lose balance and fall. As she fell on her rump, she quickly rolled on her side and kicked his knee, making him stagger. Once in arm's reach, she grabbed one of the buckles on his used to be straightjacket and pulled, shooting her fist to try and punch his cheek. Again he saw the attack come and grabbed her fist. He forced his weight to the side and brought Amesh with him. They rolled in a violent struggle till Rydince ended up leaning over her, pinning her wrists by her shoulders. Amesh hissed as pain shot through her body.

"See, your frail body still needs rest." he snickered down at her with a grin.

She scowled, and in a whirl of anger, she spat at him. He took this behavior as something that needed to be disciplined. But this wasn't like those stupid animal brawls back in the prison to show dominance...Although, showing his partner who was in power wasn't totally out of the question.

His grip tightened on her wrists. Amesh hissed and struggled, kicking her legs. This just made Rydince sit on her waist with a smirk.

"You goin' to apologize for spittin' on me?" he asked smugly.

"Screw you!" she huffed a laugh then winced as his weight hurt her ribs. Her body had healed a little, but this wasn't making it any better.

"That isn't very nice..." He leaned forward slightly and glowered down at her with a tilt of his head. "I'm waaaiting."

"Rydince, get off me. This isn't doing either of us any good." Amesh grunted and tried to move from under him.

"Correction; This isn't doing YOU any good. And I'm not lettin' you up until you apologize." he grinned.

"Oh come on!" she struggled and growled.

"You lost the fight AND you're not apologizing. Quick way to get on my shit list." he wiggled his hips to torture her with pain.

"Ow!" she shouted and kicked. "GET OFF!"

His grip on her wrists hurt now as he leaned down to whisper in her ear.

"Get over your little stubbornness and this'll all be over with." he growled, like a predator beating down his prey.

Amesh suddenly turned her head, parted her lips, and immediately bit the lobe of his ear. Rydince lunged back at the sudden pain and grabbed his ear, his face in utter shock. She took the opportunity to fly her fist forward, making successful contact with Rydince's cheek. He fell to the side, stunned by her surprise attack. She leapt up and snatched the keys from him.

"I'm sorry." she breathed with a victorious and exhausted smile.

"Um..." Barry's voice muttered from the doorway. Both Rydince and Amesh looked toward him expectantly.

"Rohawk wishes to speak with you, miss." he nodded to her with his radio in hand. Amesh walked over to him and went to grab the radio when Rydince suddenly snatched it out from under her hand. She looked at him with a frown as he spoke into it.

"What do you want." Rydince demanded. His cheek and ear were red, which made Amesh smile ever so slightly.

"Oh," Rohawk's voice sounded sorely disappointed to hear _his_ voice. "May I speak with Amesh?"

"No." he answered matter-of-factly.

"Well, you two need to leave soon. I understand the girly may not be in the best of shape, but you're running out of time. I know you can make it there and back within 24 hours, but we don't know what dangers will stall you on the way and I would just feel better if you two made it back safely on time." There was frustration in Rohawk's voice.

"You're worryin' quite a lot for a murderer and a loner." Amesh shot him a glare at that comment.

"It's not the murderer I'm worried about." Rohawk sighed. Rydince's eyes flickered up to see a light embarrassed blush on Amesh's cheeks.

"Worry about your own ass." he snapped and threw the radio at Barry. He then glared at Amesh. "You heard the bastard, let's get going. Get your weapons and we're out of here."

"No food...?" Amesh pouted with a whimper.

"We'll find something on the way."

"Fine...You should fill the MRAP up with gas while you wait." she nodded over towards some gas cans on the other side of the room before turning to disappear down the hall along with Barry.

Rydince strolled over to the gas cans and examined them. They were all empty save one that was nearly half empty. He picked it up and did what she requested of him. It wouldn't last them that long. They would probably end up walking half the way back.

After a few minutes, Amesh returned. She wore her dusty black cloak and had a shoulder bag swung over her arm. Her belt was fully equipped with her ammo, weapons, and flashlight. She nodded to Rydince when she realized he was watching her, then hopped into the passenger's seat. He followed her lead and seated himself in the driver's seat. She handed him the keys with a smug smile, making him roll his eyes. He turned the keys in the ignition and roared the vehicle to life.

"I hope you're ready for one long journey." he sighed.

"Ready as I'll ever be." Amesh smiled.


	10. Chapter 10: Problems

This is by far the longest chapter I've typed of Rydince yet! And that's why it took me so long! It was in fact so long, I only proofread the beginning, so please forgive any typos. In fact, just review this and tell me the typos so I don't have to proofread the rest of this, haha. Thanks for your patience!

_Problems_

They backed out of the airship and sped out the chain link fence boundary. Rydince held a smile as he drove. He was actually excited. He was excited to be running free and to fight what dangers came their way. He hadn't taken a road trip since before when he was still a free, innocent boy. Well, this wasn't long enough to be a full blown road trip, but perhaps once they reached the space port, he'd 'hitch' a ride and go where the current took him. Away from authority eyes, of course.

He glanced to the side at Amesh. He couldn't help but be semi curious about her plans after they had escaped this dying planet, but he wouldn't dare ask her. It wasn't him to ask people things and pretend to care.

"What is something you miss?" Amesh suddenly asked, looking at him now. He raised an eyebrow.

"Something I miss?" he asked, confused by the random question.

"Like, before the world was sentenced to doom. Before the Alien War."

Rydince had to think about that one. He thought of a good answer but wasn't comfortable with sharing it yet. "You first."

Amesh smiled. "Hot water, definitely. Music, movies, security...People." Her eyes were on the road ahead of them. "I miss the simplicity of society. No one had to kill man-eating aliens, no one had any real reason to worry about anything except for silly things like work and money. Everyone had at least one person to support and love them, and futures were assured. Now, we don't even know if we'll survive 'till tomorrow." She looked back towards Rydince expectantly. "And you?"

"Well, uh..." he cleared his throat, obviously thrown off by her answer. "I miss..Um, the opportunity to trust people."

Amesh's eyes saddened. "Why can't you trust people?"

"Do you not see what I am? I am a killer. No one has any reason to trust me and I have no reason to trust anyone." his voice showed how uncomfortable he was with the choice of conversation.

"Well..." Amesh looked out her window again. "I trust you. Not to be all girly or anything, but I genuinely trust you with my life." Her voice was quiet, unsure of his reaction.

"You make bad decisions, but thanks. I suppose I should respect that aspect of your stupidity." He smiled as she shot him a glare.

"Shut up." she snapped "At least I'm not a wanted person like you."

"I know." he grinned, obviously twisting the meaning of that comment. Amesh gasped dramatically and hit him on the arm.

"I hope you get chomped on by some alien!"

"Chomped on?" he chortled.

Again she punched him in the arm with a small laugh at herself.

"Okay, a change of subject is needed." she smirked and switched to discuss something more serious. "So...Why exactly are you a criminal? A rogue?"

Rydince was silent for a long moment, thinking about her curious question. It was one that made him attentive inside.

"I am different." he cleared his throat.

"Everyone is." Amesh looked at him, studiously.

"I am a kind of different that scares humans like you."

"You say it like you're no human at all."

"Well...Like I said, I'm different. Humans have a primitive side and a humane side. Let's just say I don't contain that humane side. I was born with the strong instincts of that primitive side." his voice was raspy with frustration of the topic.

"And your eyes?" she asked.

"These eyes are the result of a 'shine job' I got down in one of the prisons. They said I'd never see the light again, so I decided to adapt. If I didn't, I wouldn't have been able to see those who tried to kill me in the veil of darkness."

"Huh.." she made it sound like it was something normal. "Was kinda hoping that you were born with them as a mutation. Something out of one of those fantasy stories." she smiled with an internal giggle and watched out the window.

Rydince couldn't help but look over at her in total shock, but he was sure to regain his composure and try to concentrate on the road again. It was something foreign to him to hear that someone wasn't afraid or angry at him for his eyes. Afraid of his acquired ability, angry at him for being different. Or just hating him in general. He couldn't really remember when all the animosity for him began.

"When did you start killing people?" she asked again, indifferent to her question, but inside her chest held a different kind of emotion. One that borderlined terror and curiosity. She felt compelled to know more about her temporary partner, but was terrified on what she would find.

"I never started killing anyone. I was defending myself, which ended in their deaths. Then as time went on, I just began removing obstacles by the easiest means necessary." he shrugged. Amesh thought back to when he tried to strangle her to death. She was just an obstacle to be removed, and that thought made her shudder inside.

"I guess somewhere in the middle I just decided to agree with people that I'm a murderer because I took lives." he continued, not thinking on what he was saying anymore. "But I never did it for fun...Well, it was when the person was tainted. There was always a sense of pride when you see a tainted man's life end."

"And...What is tainted to you?" she asked, a bit of uneasiness creeping its way into her voice.

"Hm. Another predator like me, but one whose abused his humanity. One who left his humane side to tune into his animal side and act on it. That is a tainted man."

Amesh was staring at him, now. Her face didn't show that easygoing expression anymore. She was thinking about how her betrayal years ago could've tainted her.

"And aren't...Nevermind." she shook her head quickly.

"You asked, and I answered." he grinned slightly, knowing he was getting the reaction he expected again.

"I'm sorry." her soft brown eyes looked up at him, a sort of sorrow in them. "I'm sorry you were treated like an animal."

"You seem to forget I almost killed you." he huffed gruffly.

" I didn't forget. I just accepted the fact that it was your way of getting free. You were like a caged animal, and the only thing in your path of freedom was me. I'd remove myself too." she looked down and leaned her head on the window.

Rydince didn't push for more conversation, and frankly he didn't care to. They drove through the darkness for hours with daylight on its way, and Rydince didn't want to waste it. He was hungry, and hunting was in order. Once he hit the half mark to their destination, he was going find some food, whether it be human made or off the land.

Amesh had eventually fallen asleep against the window, stirring whenever her stomach churned with emptiness. Car rides and nighttime had always lolled her to sleep, especially when she had her cloak to keep her warm in the cold. And for some odd reason, she felt safe and secure which made her sleep extra restful, the best she had in years.

She was awoken by the soft light resting on her eyelids. Her eyes fluttered and she straightened in her seat, stretching her arms. She yawned and watched as scenery passed quickly outside. There were abandoned cars that littered the ground here and there. It was like a desert, just dirt and some hills and mountains in the distance. They were on a long deserted highway.

"How long has it been?" Amesh groaned as she stretched her sore limbs, some pain still lingering in her bones.

"Five hours." Rydince answered somewhat tiredly. "See those mounds over there?" he nodded forward. Amesh followed his gaze. In the distance were what looked like giant termite mounds. They varied in color, assuming that the lighter colored ones were abandoned and the darker colored ones were still in use. Well, at least that's what Rydince hoped for.

He drove towards the mounds and slowed the vehicle to a stop. He parked it and hopped out, Amesh curiously following his lead.

"We're at the halfway point now." he noted to her.

"So, what does that mean?" she asked.

"It means that it's food time." Her head immediately perked up at his comment, her hungry face brightening.

Rydince made his way towards the giant termite-like mounds, knowing that there was at least some sort of life in there. And whatever it was, it was going to be his meal. He tapped one of the darker dirt mounds and noticed the fragility of it. With that noted, he raised his fist and punched it into the mound. It was hallow, and as light hit the darkness inside, there was a high pitched hiss. Amesh jumped back at the noise and drew her gun.

"Shhh. Give me your cloak." he whispered to her. Amesh stared at him incredulously, but did as he asked. As she handed it to him, he pushed at the top of the mound, making it crumble away. He quickly covered the mound with Amesh's cloak as whatever inside wailed and hissed at the sudden light.

After the thing inside seemed to calm down, Rydince pursed his lips and gave an animal-like whistle, as if he was calling for birds. Amesh stared at him, wondering if he even knew what he was doing.

The creature inside suddenly stirred and then lurched up, the cloak shooting upward as whatever was inside tried to fly away. Rydince grabbed the covered creature and threw it on the ground, earning screeches and hisses. He frantically used his hands to search the beast before he found, what he assumed, was the head and jerked it up, earning a loud crackle. Amesh watch him in horror.

"Why..?"

"One word. Dinner." Rydince grinned and picked up their prize, still hidden in the cloak.

"We're eating _that_? Isn't that an alien?!" she stared at him in disgust.

"It's a monster eat monster world, chica. Gotta learn to adapt." he grinned and walked past her. "We'll cook it tonight when we camp. Now, open the trunk."

"We're camping?" she asked as she opened the small trunk of the MRAP. Without a care, Rydince threw the dead alien in the back, still wrapped in the cloak much to Amesh's disdain.

"I need that, you know." he hissed at him as she slammed the trunk closed.

"You'll live. The blood will evaporate when we cook it tonight."

"You're not planning to cook it in my cloak are you?!"

"No, I just need it covered so it doesn't disintegrate in the light."

Amesh sighed and sat back in the passenger's seat. Rydince drove once again down the highway. It was quite a boring ride, and the smell of the alien slowly started to fill the vehicle, making Amesh wrinkle her nose in distaste.

"Shit..." Rydince sighed.

"What?" Amesh looked at him with a quirked eyebrow.

"Look out towards the hills. Caves. Dozens of them. Perfect dens for the bastards." Rydince pointed out.

Amesh looked out to the hills and sure enough, there were dark caves scattered across the land. It almost looked like a giant beehive.

"Let's get far from here before we camp.." she suggested. Rydince nodded and drove on.

Once again they drove in silence for hours, until the remaining sunlight quickly faded. They drove through the pitch black with Rydince's eyes navigating the way. There was a small chuckle from him, causing Amesh to glance at him.

"We have company." he whispered, his eyes seeing bodies of light in the far distance of the rearview mirror.

"What are you talking about?" she asked, her face holding a nervous expression.

"We have a pack of something following our tracks. When we camp tonight, no one goes far and we keep the fire bright." he glared over at her, his uncovered eyes flickering silver for a split second. She nodded obediently.

Time passed quickly now that Amesh was looking out the window, imagining what beasts were out there lurking. They must've been worse than that spiked beast that nearly killed her. And they were in a pack, too. The more, the deadlier. She sighed shakily as the MRAP pulled off the road and down a dirt path towards a local mountain.

"Where are we going? This isn't the highway." she asked, worriedly.

"No, but it's a shortcut. We won't be in the open this way."

And he was right. The vehicle weaved through the cliffs, walls of rock surrounding them on both sides. The passageway through the mountain was carved by the native river. It was a popular camping and hiking area a decade ago, though the river had long dried up. After about ten minutes, Rydince parked nearby a cove.

"Stay inside, I'll check if it's clear." he ordered Amesh before leaving the vehicle with his ulaks in hand. His ulaks were blades that curved backwards from the handle, making them easily maneuverable. And dangerous. Amesh shivered as she watched him jog off around the rocky corner.

"Oh lordy..." she sighed and leaned her head back, rubbing her goosebump covered arms. She felt so cold and filthy, and the perfect cure for that would be a nice hot bath. Oh how long it had been since she had a hot bath. She shivered at the thought and rubbed her arms again for warmth. It got dreadfully cold at night.

She closed her eyes and exhaled slowly, choosing to take a moment of silence to remember those warm and friendly memories of her young teen years. She smiled at the memory of her getting her very first horse. It was an old quarter horse, but she loved him unconditionally. Her smile faded when she remembered that the horse became a meal to the invaders when they attacked. She shuddered at the thought again.

Suddenly something slammed against her window, making her jump to life with a scream. Rydince grinned down at her from the other side of the window.

"Clear." he mused.

"Give me a heart attack why don't you!" she yelled at him and opened the door with a frown. Rydince stepped back with a grin and rounded the vehicle to the back where he popped the trunk and grabbed the dead beast. He threw the cloak at Amesh. She caught it and was disgusted immediately. It smelled and was drenched in cold blood.

"So much for a clean kill." she hissed through her teeth at Rydince. He just smiled in return and walked towards the cove. She followed, grabbing her flashlight and lighting her way.

The cove was a rock covered clearing beside the dry riverbed. The cliff over headed a section of the cove, giving useful shelter. There was wood already stacked in the center of the clearing, no doubt Rydince had gathered it before he fetched Amesh.

Rydince threw the beast down and grabbed two rocks, scuffing them together to make sparks for the fire. Amesh sat on the opposite side of him around the fire. There was a faint sound in the distance, something inhuman and hard to distinguish. Rydince must've heard it too, because he began hitting the rocks together quicker. Finally, sparks erected a small fire from the rocks. Rydince smirked and blew into the fire, making it grow. Once the area was coated in a soft glow, the faint noises stopped. Amesh frowned at Rydince and scooted close to the dim warmth of the fire. He just ignored her and pulled out one of his ulaks to begin butchering his kill. Amesh winced away at the grotesque noises the carcass made.

Rydince turned with a slab of meat on the end of blade and put it over the fire. It simmered fairly quickly, and the blood evaporated. Amesh watched curiously, then quickly put her bloody cloak by the fire. The blood evaporated from the thick material and she smiled.

"I'll be warm tonight." she giggled and wrapped the now dry cloak around her chilled body. It was then the smell of the alien meat hit her. Her stomach growled immediately and she locked her eyes on the cooked meat. It smelled almost like steak. Or that's what it seemed like since she was so hungry.

"Ladies first." Rydince sighed and motioned her to come over to retrieve the alien steak. She eagerly scooted beside her and took the meat from his blade. She examined it briefly before taking another whiff of it.

"You sure it's safe?" she asked with a eagerness. He shrugged.

"Should be."

With that she bit into the hot meat. She groaned with happiness as the meat tasted like lemon soaked beef. She quickly swallowed the piece of meat and took another ravenous bite.

"Judging by the fact you're still alive, it isn't be poisoned." he smiled. Amesh was too happy to glare at him.

Rydince butchered the salvageable meat and cooked all he could. They ate in happy silence, save the times they heard shuffling on the cliffs above.

With satisfied bellies, the two settled beneath the overhang of rock. What ever leftover meat they had, Rydince hung it to dry into alien jerky. The fire was well fueled to last at least three more hours.

Rydince rested his back against the rock and watched the fire. His eyes were uncovered again, which spiked Amesh's curiousity.

"Let me see your eyes." she demanded. Rydince looked over at her with quirked eyebrows.

"Excuse me?" he huffed.

Amesh suddenly leaned closer and stared him straight in the eyes. He blinked and stared back blankly. She watched at how his blue-ish gray eyes reflected the light of the fire. She smiled as her curiosity was finally sated.

"That is so cool." she smiled and turned back to gaze at the fire. Rydince stared at her for a moment longer before rolling his eyes and crossing his arms over his chest. The chill was getting to him. Amesh glanced at him and yawned.

"Thank you for dinner. T'was delicious." she smiled.

"Mhmm." he huffed.

"Hey Rydince...You know how you explained a tainted man to me earlier..?"

"Yeah." he yawned.

"Well...Aren't you a tainted too?" she asked quietly. He just looked over at her with that mischievous smirk.

"In some ways I am, but at the same time, I'm not. I never had a humane side to turn against. Was never given the chance. But men who have had the chance and chose to abuse it, deserve to die." he shrugged.

Amesh nodded slowly and pulled her cloak tighter around her. She scooted a little closer to Rydince till she was able to rest her head on his shoulder pad. He winced at first and stared down at her head for a long while before just accepting it. Amesh closed her eyes and gave a relaxed sigh, scooting a little closer once more.

As night drew on, Rydince had ended up falling asleep with his partner pressed against his side and his arm draped protectively over her shoulders. They kept each other warm and secure with the feeling of safety. But as hours passed and it was equivalent to at least nine in the morning, there was an emptiness next to Rydince. He felt the cold creep in again. He awoke groggily, looking over to see the empty space beside him. Then suddenly, Amesh's scream sounded from around the cove. Rydince jumped awake and lurched to his feet. The scream came from the area he hadn't search yet. He broke into a full sprint and rounded the rock corner to see a shallow cave, a flash of skin, and a splash of water.

"Rydince!?" Amesh gasped, wide eyed in a pool of bubbling water. She had her flashlight illuminating the small cave.

"Are you..Wha-..." he panted "What the hell are you doing? Why did you scream?"

"Well,..I didn't expect the water to be so hot and it startled me...But hey..I found a hot spring?" she watched him, terrified that he'd be furious with her. Rydince sighed and approached the hot spring before he noticed her clothes resting on the rocks. He stopped and looked up at her. She looked very nervous, and it was a suitable reaction to a man approaching a young naked woman in a hot spring. He backed off a few steps.

"Sorry." he cleared his throat.

"It's alright. Actually, I was going to bathe. It's really refreshing, you should try it after I'm done." she offered shyly. "I even found some wild flowers, surprisingly. I ground them up and they smell really nice. We could use them as soap."

"Hah. Men don't need to smell like any damn flowers." he laughed. Amesh giggled in return.

"Well, once I'm done, we can leave."

"And how long will that take?" he frowned.

"Probably about a hour."

"An _hour_?!" he crossed his arms.

"Hey! Didn't I say I missed hot water! I'm going enjoy this blessing from above and take my time." she smirked and leaned her head back on the rock, sinking her shoulder's below the steaming water.

Rydince glared at her with a sigh. The hot spring did look quite inviting. He hadn't bathed in a long time and he was starting to dislike the feel of dirt and grime on his skin.

Amesh had her eyes closed before she heard clothes hit the ground. She quickly looked up to see a shirtless Rydince untying his boots.

"What are you doing?" she asked suspiciously.

"Two baths will take too long. You can share." he stated simply.

Amesh quickly turned her head away as he disrobed. Her cheeks became deeply flushed. She had never taken a bath with a grown man before, and she didn't really care to, but now it was happening with a convict. But at least the bubbles distorted the water, and the steam made it a challenge to see. Besides, if the rogue had any desire to assault her, he would've done it already. He was that kind of man.

There was a quiet splash as Rydince stepped into the hot water. He had removed his goggles as well as his clothes, bearing a scar covered torso. The scars were likely from his prison filled past. Once he settled in the water, opposite of Amesh, the warmth melted away all tension he had. He sighed contently, settling deep into the spring till his nosed rested just above the bubbling water. He didn't realize how much he missed a nice hot bath, so he took this moment to cherish it.

Amesh assumed it safe when she heard him sigh. She slowly looked back, seeing just the tip of his head through the steam. It wasn't as awkward as she thought it'd be if he was all the way on the other side of the spring. She took the opportunity to dip her head in the water then reach out and grab the wildflower she had grounded. She rolled the small pieces in her hands before running them through the messy layers of her now drenched hair.

Rydince almost immediately smelled the scent of the flowers Amesh had found. He smirked and let his head submerge in the water to escape the alluring smell. He then reached up and ran his hands through his greasy hair and attempted to wash it out.

Moments passed by with silent bathing before Amesh let out a soft giggle.

"What is it?" Rydince asked, washing the water over his shoulders.

"It's nothing." Amesh chuckled.

"Just tell me." Rydince smirked, gazing at her through the steam. Her grinning face made him smile slightly.

"I was just remembering what my mom told me; not to interact with strange men, and look at this situation now." she smiled, watching her hands skim across the water.

"Hmph...You think me strange?" Rydince couldn't help a small grin.

"Oh, definitely." Amesh's head perked up " But I trust you."

"And...Are you scared of me?" his eyes watched her, amused by her actions.

She watched his shape through the steam, though it was hard to see him with the dim light of her flashlight.

"No. I'm not." she said with ease.

Rydince took that moment to act. He propelled himself off the rock behind him and towards the girl. She couldn't hide the look of suspicion as he emerged through the steam and approached her. She covered her chest with her arms and pulled up her legs as she watched him, her suspicion quickly turning into shock. He stood up, the water just below his waistline. He glared down at her, just inches away.

"Say it again." he dared her.

"What...?" she asked quietly, her eyes wide.

"Say that you're not afraid of me." he growled.

Amesh swallowed nervously, "I'm not...scared of you."

He suddenly leaned forward, shooting his hands out and pinning her wrists to the rock. She flinched and turned her face away, braced for an attack, but he only held her there, his face inches from hers. His eyes never left her face as he pinned her to the rock, but he made sure to keep plenty of space between their bare bodies.

"You have every right to fear me. I am a man, and you are a weak woman. I am a feral beast, and you are a fragile rabbit. I can take your life at any moment. You only trust me because I am bound to this mission and need your help. Other than that, I just an escaped murderer. Be very afraid." he growled in a deadly tone.

"But..." she slowly turned her head to gaze fearfully up at him. "You even said yourself...You don't like killing unless the person is tainted."

"And whose to say you aren't tainted? You chose to flee and leave all you loved behind to suffer and die." he grinned, and tilted his head slightly.

"I...Then, I am tainted. But at least I still hold on to my humanity. You're living proof of that." she stared at him, her frightful gaze turning hard as stone.

Rydince grinned with a huff and released his grip on her. She quickly went to cover herself, even though the bubble's disturbance of the water made it near impossible to see the detail of her chest. She looked away shamefully, like a pup put in its place. Rydince turned back to return to his spot when he heard a strange noise. He froze as he listened.

"Shit, they found us!" he cursed and jumped out of the spring, giving Amesh a nice full moon image. She quickly looked away, her face flushed again.

"Who did?" she squeaked.

"Our little trackers from before." he growled as he threw on his pants and grabbed his ulaks. He left his vest on the ground as he ran off. Amesh stood up, staring wide eyed. She grabbed her flashlight and climbed out of the spring as well.

As Rydince rounded the corner, great furry beasts in the cove's clearing took note of him and fled. There were about half a dozen of the horse sized creatures, and that was all he could make out of them before they escaped his presence. He couldn't say he wasn't disappointed. He wanted to fight something.

"Is it safe?" Amesh whispered from around the corner.

"Yeah, it's fine. But I can't say the same for your little car."

Amesh shined her flashlight on her vehicle. The windows were shattered and there were dents and puncture holes in the paint.

"Oh no, no, no!" she groaned and approached her vehicle. Rydince had already hopped in the driver's seat and was tinkering with the ignition.

"Uh oh.. We have a problem." Rydince frowned.

"Whaaat...?" she whimpered.

"Your little car isn't starting."


	11. Chapter 11: Something Different

HOLY CRAP, IM SO SORRY I TOOK SO LONG! After typing chapter 10, my imagination was super drained, which is why it took me so long to type this chapter. It'll probably take the same amount of time for chapter 12...But it really does help when I get feedback :) Thanks so much for your patience! (btw, don't be scared, I'm not giving up on this story! I'm just being REALLY slow)

_Something Different_

"You're kidding me?!" Amesh whined as she ran to her vehicle, lifting the hood to the engine. It was just as damaged on the inside as it was on the outside.

"Shit! What the hell do we do now?!" she screamed angrily and kicked at the MRAP's tire.

Rydince left the vehicle to retrieve his vest from the spring while Amesh tried desperately to start her MRAP. It was no hope, the vehicle refused to start. Amesh pouted and whimpered, hitting her forehead against the steering wheel.

"No...How the hell do we get there before the asteroid hits, now? Damn it!" she screamed angrily. Her vehicle was their only way of transportation there and back within a day or two. Now on foot, it would at the LEAST take a week. Plus, the battery cells would be too heavy to carry by hand. There was no possible way around this.

She curled her fingers around the wheel and gripped it tightly, her head still leaning on it. They were hours from both their home and destination. Was this really it? All because of a pack of beasts raiding camp, the remaining humans would be damned to this world of death. She, again, hit her head against the wheel.

"You'll give yourself brain damage if you keep doing that." Rydince smirked from outside the vehicle. "At least they didn't have time to devour the leftovers of our meat."

"It doesn't matter anymore! We're screwed! Without the MRAP, how can we get the batteries and bring them back to the ship?! It's absolutely impossible!" Amesh snapped with a fierce tone.

"Well, let's gather what items we have and get a move on."

"Did you hear me?" she looked up at him, her dark eyes raging. "We won't make it in time!"

"Well, you can give up. I'm leaving to handle this mission with some effort." Rydince shrugged on his vest and buckled it around his torso.

Amesh glared at him intensely before popping the trunk of the military vehicle and hopping out. She rounded the vehicle and peered inside the beaten compartment with her flashlight. Rydince joined her to look inside.

"Ropes? Really? "

"Hey, these are industrial ropes, made with carbon fiber. They are near indestructible, and you never know when the occasion will arise that you'll need rope." Amesh snapped at him, defensively.

He shrugged and reached inside, snatching up the heavy rope and an empty leather bag. He gazed at the bag for a moment before shoving it in her hands.

"Put what's left of the meat in this bag, and we will head out. Make sure you scavenge what you can from your car. This road trip will be long and difficult." He said as he began lacing the rope through the belt loops of his pants.

"And...What if we don't make it back in time, Rydince?" Amesh looked up at him, worried now. Her brown eyes searched his face in the dim light of her flashlight for any sign of doubt.

"Then, we went out with a good conscience."

"I know you don't care about good consciences." she smirked.

"I don't, but I know you do." he grinned darkly at her, "Now, pack up before those bastards come back to finish what they started."

"Which was...?"

"Finding food." his teeth flashed another mischievous smile.

She stared blankly at him before shaking her head and turning to her new task. In the moments that passed, they had gathered what they could from the wreckage. Rydince carried the thick rope and his ulaks while Amesh held the bag of food. She had put her cloak back on and packed what ammo she could in her belt. Now, it was just her and him unprotected in the open, save her gun and dagger, and Rydince's curved blades.

"We'll go through the canyon up ahead until we get out on the other side. By then, we need to walk about 20 miles East to reach the capitol. Then, we look for the factory that holds the battery cells." He pointed down the path towards the spring.

"Easier said than done." she exhaled.

"Sunlight will come in a few hours. By then, we should be out of this canyon and in the open again. If we're careful, we should be safe for seven hours. Then, the fun begins." he stated, his lips twitching excitedly.

"What fun?" she gazed at him, her brow furrowed.

"Where we will face our little pack of stalkers."

"You mean the things that screwed up my MRAP? I'm down. They're going to pay for what they did to my baby." she patted the dirty metal of her vehicle and walked towards the path Rydince had directed to. Rydince followed in step behind her, making sure nothing was stalking them. They traveled past the hot spring and down the path.

"Oh...Um.." Amesh cleared her throat.

"Just spit it out." Rydince frowned, checking behind them again.

"I just wanted to say...Thanks."

"For what?"

"For not taking advantage of me in the hot spring..." She mumbled, quietly.

"Only tainted men think of touching a defenseless woman. I haven't fallen to that level, and I don't plan to. Ever." the tone of his voice sounded almost offended by the comment. This made Amesh giggle aloud.

"You are quite different than the rest." she couldn't help her relieved smile.

"I know." the corner of his mouth twitched up at her.

They traveled in silence down the path for what seemed like hours. The only sounds were their footsteps and the pack of creatures tracking them from the canyon above. They made strange sounds, something inhuman and nothing an animal could ever make. But it was hard to put a description to the sound since it was so faint.

Daylight was approaching, as was the end of the canyon. Being that daylight was soon arriving, it meant it was near 1p.m., and the light only lasted until 7p.m.

They braced themselves as they left the now level canyon. Rydince took the lead since it was still too dim for Amesh to see well. He scanned the landscape. Nothing of threat was around. He quirked his eyebrow and slipped his goggles on to prepare for the oncoming light.

"Clear. Let's go." Rydince ordered and stepped forth.

Amesh followed him quietly. The bag of food was swung over her shoulder, and her gun in hand. It was silent at first, then that odd noise rang again, behind them in the canyon.

"They followed us through the canyon!" Amesh gasped and looked to Rydince. He bit his lip and jerked her wrist forward.

"Run." And that was all he needed to say before they both lurched forward into a sprint.

"This doesn't make sense! Daylight is coming! They should be hiding from the light!"

"Well, maybe we finally encountered something that evolved to light exposure."

"How is that possible?! It hasn't even been a decade since they arrived!"

"Then, maybe the beasts created some hybrids with the homing species." Rydince hissed and skidded to a stop, grabbing her around the waist to interrupt her run as well.

"What are you doing?!" Amesh looked at him, bewildered.

"They have us in their sights now. Running would only set off their hunter instinct. This is where we fight." Rydince let go of her and unsheathed his curved blades.

Amesh's gaze moved from him to the approaching creatures. It was still a challenge for her to see through the darkness, but she knew that they weren't small aliens. The sound rang again. It was such an odd sound. It had no animal feel to it, but something synthesized. Like a machine's sound. It was a raw and deep sound, no voice, but all vibrato. It reminded Amesh of a deep canine's growl with a rough metallic ring.

Rydince could at last see a few details of the oncoming opponents. They were large canine-like aliens with hairless faces. From their head back was covered in brown fur, some of them lighter shades than the others. The sound they made rumbled through his core. He could feel the low tones echo through his very bones. He grimaced and stepped back, closer to Amesh.

"Don't be scared, chica. We can handle this." he growled low to her.

"I've never heard anything like them...It sounds like a demonic robot or something..." she swallowed and scooted towards him herself. "You can see them right? What are we against?"

"Something big and furry, but their face is all skin. Their body looks like a canine's. Maybe when they arrived, they became acquainted with the local wolves."

"Great, a wolf hybrid monster." she huffed and squinted her eyes trying to see the beasts.

The pack of aliens began to make bone rattling growls as they came closer, emerging from the canyon behind the two. They lowered their heads, scoping out their victims. Their trot turned into a run, and the pack of half a dozen began to disperse as they closed the distance between them and their targets.

Rydince and Amesh stood their ground as the large creatures loomed from the darkness of the canyon. Their eyes stayed locked on the creatures as they split up and began to circle them like sharks. Amesh pressed her back to Rydince's with her gun raised. He responded by giving a small nudge.

"I got your back." he said, spinning one of his blades in his hand. The large beasts snarled at his display. They snapped at Rydince only, making Amesh think for a split second if they knew of his kills in the past Alien War. Rohawk did mention that Rydince was known to the aliens.

At this vicinity, Rydince could see every clear detail of their stalkers. On their skin covered faces were three beady eyes. On the darker colored beasts, their eyes were a crimson red, and on the lighter coated ones, their eyes were a deep blue. They had no pointy ears, only ear holes, and all of them had five claws on their front paws and four on the hind paws. One distinct quality they had was that they had no lips. Their jaw was molded with the teeth that were also skin covered. It was evident that the jaw 'teeth' weren't round in width but thin, made for slicing and not chewing. Another thing, was that the teeth were few in number and large, spread along the outline of where the lips would be.

The monster's eyes, for the most part, glowered at Rydince as they passed him. Rydince on the other hand met their gaze with a challenge of dominance. Finally, one of the bigger dark ones reared up, parting its jaws and releasing a deafening roar. Amesh clenched her jaw and quickly grabbed for her ears. It didn't matter, though. The sound rumbled the very ground under their feet and pierced into their eardrums. Rydince's jaw flexed as he tried to bear the raw sound that vibrated inside his ear. The other pack members momentarily paused to yowl with their alpha's call. Amesh cried out and staggered forward, mistakenly making the first move in the standoff. Almost immediately, one of the smaller ones lurched between them, forcing the two apart.

Rydince whirled around to strike his weapon across the shoulder blade of the smaller beast. It screeched out, a high metallic scratch sound. Rydince jumped back, countering two others as they made their attack.

Amesh had to catch herself and duck as the big alpha aimed a bite for her shoulder. She then rolled forward, dodging another large alien's attack who was lighter in coat color.

"I think these are the alphas!" Amesh squeaked as she jumped up, her muscles crying out with pain. She wasn't fully healed yet and this wasn't helping. Just then, there was a sharp pain on her lower shoulder. She looked to the side to see a dark one's jaws locked around the strap of her bag. It's toothed jaw had nicked her old wound from the spined alien at the truck site, causing it to bleed again. She yanked back, expecting the two alphas to jump on her while she was caught, but they only snarled at the younger one and snapped at her bag. It then clicked her in head what they desired.

"Rydince! Wait, don't kill them!" she screamed out, holding up her hand and gun in surrender to the three pack members before her. They growled, their two nostrils on the top of their snouts flaring. She tugged lightly on her bag and bent down to set her gun softly on the dirt, never letting her gaze leave them. The lighter alpha responded by biting at the one that had a hold of her bag. The younger member snarled at the alpha, and was quickly punished with a viscous metallic screech and a bite to the neck, symbolizing the alpha's dominance. The younger one immediately cowered back, its new deep wound oozing purple blood. The lighter alpha barked a warning to the darker alpha and it turned to Rydince, who was fending off the rest of the pack. Purple blood was splattered across the dirt at his feet.

Rydince showed no mercy to the creatures that attacked him. His wild instinct pumped through his body as he countered the beasts and thrusted his blades at them. One of the beasts lunged at him, lowering its head, intending to knock him to the ground. Rydince turned his elbow and plunged his ulak into the skull of the monster. It immediately dropped to the ground, dead. It was then he heard Amesh's voice crying out his name to not kill their attackers. He scoffed to himself and lurched back, slamming into the injured small one. Its high pitched snarl deafened him momentarily as he turned to slice his blade across its neck. His blade cut through the hide with ease as its blood spilt down its chest and poured onto the ground.

"Two down and three to go." he hissed to himself, eyeing the two dark coats and one light coat. They had stopped circling him and were standing around him, as if blocking his exits. They were snapping their odd jaws and growling those trembling sounds, deep within their chests.

It then occurred to him, he hadn't heard Amesh at all after she had called out to him. He perked his head suddenly and looked for her. His eyes then laid upon a scene of an unexpected event. Amesh was kneeling on the ground with some of the food from the bag in her hand. In front of her was the large light coated beast. It had its head lowered towards the meat in her hand.

After Amesh had called for Rydince to stop, she turned to face the light alpha before her. It growled lowly to her, but its sound was more high pitched than the darker coat's voice. She then assumed this was the alpha female of the hybrid pack. With the rising sun, she could see the deep blue eyes glowering down at her. It gave her chills to see the skin covered face with three beady eyes on each side of its head. It swayed its head side to side, as if studying Amesh.

"I'm not going to hurt you..." Amesh said softly to the great beast. She then slowly knelt down, slipping her bag off her shoulder and opening it. She dipped her hand in the bag and pulled out a small slab of dry meat. The alpha female paused at the sight of the meat, and her nostrils began to flare furiously. She gave a high metallic squeak and snapped her jaws at the meat, in which Amesh quickly pulled away. It retreated its head and looked down at Amesh with an incredulous look.

"I know you're an intelligent alien. I need you to call off your pack from my dear friend. Do this, and I will reward you with this meat." Amesh watched the alien hybrid, hoping to God that it understood her. She only assumed it was intelligent because of the way the pack responded to Rydince. It seemed to work, because the beast raised its head and shrieked, a sound like a knife against a chalkboard with a vibrato touch.

The pack immediately perked their heads to their alpha female. The alpha male, as assumed, growled and turned its head towards the other leader. It gave a deep rumbling snarl, the fur over its chest trembling with the noise. The alpha female snapped her jaws, making a shallow thunk sound, a sign of communication that Amesh could only guess what it meant.

Rydince exhaled his held breath as he noted that Amesh was unharmed, save a trickle of blood from the old gash on her arm. He watched as Amesh said something to the big light coated alien. It gave her a small growl, but was quickly silenced as Amesh threw it a piece of the meat, which it eagerly caught and swallowed whole. Suddenly, the whole pack's body tensed before they lunged forward towards Amesh.

Rydince's muscles clenched as he was about to run to his partner's rescue, but quickly stopped once he realized the alpha female jumped between the pack and Amesh. The female snarled loudly and wildly, fighting for control of her hungry pack. The alpha male and her even began violently quarreling, rearing at each other and swiping their sharp claws at one another's head and shoulders.

Amesh's heart jumped at the sight of the alpha female jumping between her and the charging beasts. She staggered back, trying to back away from the violent fight between the two alphas over whose choice should be obeyed. When the dark, red eyed alpha male landed his claws into his mate's shoulder, the lighter alpha female parted her jaws and screamed, an ear piercing sound to both the pack and the humans. Amesh shot her hands up to her ears, dropping the meat by accident. The vulnerability of the food took the alpha male's attention long enough for the female and sink her jaws around his neck and force her weight on him, slamming the big male on the ground. The male grunted and snorted when he hit the ground, ceasing to fight once he knew his female had forced her choice. The lighter female let go of him with no blood on her maw, to Amesh's surprise. She then turned her big head to Amesh, expecting another piece of meat. Amesh stared at the female blankly before flinching and fetching the meat, ripping off a piece and throwing it to the victorious leader, who caught it and swallowed it whole again.

"I'll be damned. You just trained the damn monster!" Rydince laughed, a wide grin on his face.

Amesh looked at him with her eyes wide with shock. "I-I guess I did."

"That's something different! Maybe we're not damned after all." he watched the tense pack.

"What are you saying?" Amesh breathed, her heart still in her throat.

"I'm saying that we just found our ride."


	12. Announcement

Important announcement~

First of all, no I am NOT quitting Rydince!

The reason I'm taking forever is because I'm going over previous chapters and fixing what really needs to be fixed. In fact, I have to change and rewrite a lot of chapters 1-3. Sp I'm going to delete Rydince from here and REPOST the updated story.

Another reason it's taking me so long is because lack of motivation. I try to inspire myself by drawing illustrations for the story, but the lack of feedback really takes its toll.. I'm not blaming my viewers but it REALLY does help when I get reviews :)

So sometime soon, I am deleting the old story and will post the more updated one. Follow me to know when its up :) Thanks for understanding!

If you cant handle the wait, I have story illustrations on my deviantart. My user is NiaraForever.

-Lauren/Niara


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